la

In the manner or style of something or someone else. The phrase is a shortened form of the French à la mode de, meaning "in the manner of." The lead actor delivered hilarious slapstick à la The Three Stooges, but also had a grace and charm that was irresistible.

Available to be purchased individually instead of bundled with other items. Most often describes items on a menu that are not part of a main dish. I wasn't very hungry, so I opted to buy a few side items à la carte instead of a full meal.

Before something (a word, phrase, name, or specific entity, especially that which is anachronistic) was coined or created. From the French meaning "before the letter." So-called "hipsters" have always existed avant la lettre, but it's only in the last few decades that we've attempted to create a label for them.

Oh well. This French phrase, meaning "that's life," indicates resignation and acceptance of something that one dislikes but cannot change. I know you're annoyed to have gotten another parking ticket, but c'est la vie. I had hoped to get home early enough to cook dinner, but that didn't happen, so we ordered pizza instead—c'est la vie.

A French phrase meaning "look for the woman," the idea being that when a man starts behaving strangely, it is often because he is attracted to or involved with a woman. The phrase is typically attributed to French author Alexandre Dumas. A: "Todd has started dressing better and acting much more mature lately." B: "Hmm, cherchez la femme, methinks."

Of a person or a thing, the very best of a similar group or type. Literally translated from French as "cream of the cream." This car is the crème de la crème of luxury vehicles. Janet is the crème de la crème of photographers.

cliché See you later; goodbye. From Spanish, the phrase is sometimes used in English especially to emphasize a dramatic departure or a victory over someone. Popularized by the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. A: "OK, that sounds good! Later, Tom!" B: "Hasta la vista!" He pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes, revved the engine, and shouted, "Hasta la vista, kid!" before speeding off into the sunset. "Hasta la vista, baby!" she said as she moved her queen to take my rook.

From French, meaning "the more things change, the more they remain the same." In English, the phrase is used in reference to problems or bad situations that remain the same, even when people or things involved in them are different. We move into a fancy new office, and still the servers crash all the time. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Plus ça change, eh? Even with the so-called champion of the working man in office, it's still the wealthy elite getting all the tax breaks.

From French, literally, "long live difference," used as a celebration of diversity, as between sexes, cultures, aesthetics, etc. Embracing the aspects of a foreign culture that are at first shocking or uncomfortable is a valuable way to expand your own way of thinking about the world. Vive la différence! I owned a rundown 1997 sedan for most of my adult life. After driving a new, modern car with all the high-end specs, well, vive la différence!

Like, in the manner of, as in He hoped to break all records, à la Babe Ruth. This expression, an abbreviation of the French à la mode de (for "in the manner of"), has been used in English since the late 1500s.

The best or choicest of anything, as in The apples from this orchard are definitely the cream of the crop. The noun cream has been used to mean "the best" since the 16th century. The French equivalent of the present term, la crème de la crème ("the cream of the cream") was familiar in English by 1800.

The very best of all. Cream is, of course, the richest part of milk and rises to the top. It was transferred to mean the best of any collective entity by the seventeenth century. John Ray, for example, included “That’s the cream of the jest” in his collection of English proverbs (1678). The exact locution involving the best of the crop was no doubt adopted for its alliterative appeal. The French version, la crème de la crème, literally “the cream of the cream,” meaning the best of the best, was well known in English by 1800 or so and also is considered a cliché. It gained new impetus in Muriel Spark’s novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, first made into a play, then a motion picture (1969), in which the schoolteacher-heroine assures her students that they will, under her tutelage, become the crème de la crème.

Out of touch with reality. This slangy equivalent of never-never land dates from the 1980s. The New York Times stated (Jan. 10, 1992), “Stanford is a multicultural la-la land. . . . It’s not the real world.” Capitalized, La-La Land is a jocular nickname for Los Angeles, California, a term that also dates from the 1980s.

Hurray for the difference (between men and women). This jocular approval of diversity dates from the mid-twentieth century, at least for use by English-speaking individuals. The New York Times had it in an article on men and women jockeys in 1969: “The male riders . . . continue to bellow ‘Vive la Différence.’” It also has been extended to differences other than gender, as in the Manchester Guardian’s seeming truism (1964), “‘Vive la différence’ Tories are recognizably Tories, and Socialists are demonstrably Socialists.”

This French phrase that translates as “look for a woman,” originated with the elder Alexandre Dumas in his novel The Mohicans of Paris. Its meaning is that unusual male behavior can often be traced to involvement with a female. For example, countless generations of adolescent boys who never paid attention to their wardrobe or personal grooming suddenly became interested in clothing fashions. They washed their face and combed their hair without being told to, and spent hours chatting on the telephone (now a computer or handheld device) with the classic teenage boy's dreamy/dopey look on their face. Their parents would regard the phenomenon with a knowing and bemused expression as they told each other, “cherchez la femme.”