langue de bois

French

Etymology

From Russian дубовый язык (dubovyj jazyk, “coarse, heavy language”, literally “oaken language”) via Polish [Term?]. Originally referring to the language of the tsarist bureaucracy, it was later used by the Solidarność movement in Poland and then picked up by the French media.

Noun

langue de bois f (plural langues de bois)

1. wooden language, waffle (speech that is vague, pretentious or evasive)

   Synonym: xyloglossie

2. cant (empty hypocritical talk)

Further reading

• langue de bois on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr
• wooden language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia