vive la différence
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See also: vive la difference
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from French, literally “long live the difference”, from vive (“long live”) + la (“the”) + différence (“difference, diversity”). Although correct and unremarkable French, it is not a stock phrase in French as it is in English.
Pronunciation[edit]
Phrase[edit]
vive la différence
- (often humorous) Used to express appreciation of diversity, especially between the sexes; sometimes referring to cultural diversity, and more rarely to diversity of opinion, as in "let's agree to disagree".
- 2001 November 1, Sandra Díaz; Marcelo Cabido, “Vive la différence: plant functional diversity matters to ecosystem processes”, in Trends in Ecology & Evolution[1], volume 16, number 11, pages 646–655:
Usage notes[edit]
- Often used as a humorous exclamation (e.g., by a man appreciating an attractive woman).
- The term la différence is sometimes abstracted from this saying to refer to the difference between the sexes, or to heterosexual sexual interest implied to result from this.
Synonyms[edit]
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English phrases
- English multiword terms
- English terms spelled with É
- English terms spelled with ◌́
- English humorous terms
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- en:Gender
- English pseudo-loans from French