Showing posts with label faux pas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faux pas. Show all posts

Friday, June 19, 2015

foe, faux

Foe or foe means enemy or opponent--
The soldiers were trained to face the foe without flinching.
His old friend became a determined foe when he sat down to play checkers.

Faux or faux ( rhymes woth foe ) describes a fake or imitation substance--
The countertops are made of faux granite.
She wore a tiara of faux pearls.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"They sat on either side of a chessboard of faux marble, each a bitter foe of the other until the game was over."

Note--"faux pas" is French for "false step", most commonly used in English to mean a social blunder--
He called his boss by the wrong name; what an awful faux pas.