Ever wonder why some French words have become so common in English as to be cliches? Or why your witty repartee wouldn't be quite so witty without them?

In Say Chic, Francoise Blanchard and Jeremy Leven collect more than seventy familiar French words and phrases that have become a permanent part of the American vocabulary. In their clever, often amusing style, the authors explain the origin of each word, its meaning, and how it came to be adopted into English. Uniting the sensibilities of an American author and a French...