French word of the day: Circonlocution
Why do I need to know circonlocution?
Because once you know what it is, you'll realise you've heard it used numerous times every single day
What does it mean?
Circonlocution
– roughly pronounced
seer-con-low-coo-syon
– is a way of talking around a subject using expressions rather than the word itself.
It can be used when someone verbally dances round a topic they're unwilling to discuss directly – an English
circonlocution
of this would be the phrase 'beat about the bush' – which means to discuss a matter without coming to the point. Like almost every meeting in history.
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But it is also the term for expressions used to replace words, which French does a lot.
For example, using the well-known phrase
la langue de Molière
, when you mean 'French', or
Le locataire de Matignon
to describe the prime minister would be examples of
circonlocution
.
This sort of things happens with places names a lot too -
L'île de beauté
for Corsica,
la ville rose
for Toulouse or
la ville lumière
for Paris.
You may also hear unclear language described as
la langue de bois
– in this case the lack of clarity is a deliberate attempt to obscure or confuse an issue. Unsurprisingly, it's a charge often levelled at politicians.
Use it like this
Nous n'avons pas le temps d'écouter vos circonlocutions
– we don't have time to listen to you beat about the bush
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