Ah, French! It’s the language of love, and if you want to seem romantic (while somewhat haughty), dropping some French words gives you a je ne sais quoi. Nevertheless, I sometimes noticed some American use French words without actually knowing what they actually mean, and thus, they use them in an odd contexts, and I know that you have reasons to use them that way, but I still find it funny.
So let me enlighten you, and please tell me if you learned something from this!
1. Risqué
At first, I thought I was the one at fault because I only watch series like How I Met Your Mother or Friends, but then I googled it, and it turned out I was right, and you only use it to describe a sexual situation. Here, we'd use osé. Risqué just means risky and dangerous. (In France, a risqué situation would be to start a messenger pigeon’s rental shop in 2017.)
2. Charette
It’s a cart. You use it to describe a very artsy thing to do, like being surrounded by art and whatnot, but we use it to describe a wooden box with wheels.
3. Connoisseur
Okay, so I had trouble with this one because it may come from French, but here, it means nothing. If we want to talk about someone knowledgeable in a specific field, we'd say connAisseur. So English-speakers, I’m cool with you stealing words from French, really, but please, at least spell them right.
4. Touché
When you say this, it means you just got burned,and you acknowledge it, kind of like saying “you got a point” to whoever you’re talking to. Here, it just means touched, as in touching someone or something or getting touched. The way you use it comes from fencing, a sport where French is the language used to referee. When your opponent touches you with his saber, you often say “Touché” to acknowledge his hit.
5. Résumé
When you do a résumé, you list all your degrees and your past “work experience” like that time in sixth-grade you were the class representative. When we do a résumé, we summarize a book.
6. Encore
This is the word you scream at the top of your lungs when you think the concert is over, and you're not quite ready to go back to your boring life. In French, it means “again”. If we want another song, we’ll likely be screaming “Une Autre” (Another).
Those are the French words you misuse I picked up, but if you know there are others, or even if you want to know if you use the words right, let me know in the comments.
