frou frou

Posted by Smokey Stover on September 05, 2008 at 05:37

In Reply to: frou frou posted by R. Berg on September 03, 2008 at 17:02:

: : : I heard someone use the term 'feu feu' coffee to refer to flavored coffees. I remember hearing the term 'feu feu' as I was growing up in my family (French Canadian background). The way I have heard the word used implies sissy, unmanly, etc. Does this derive from the birds of a feather reference that gave rise to the title of the pay/movie La Cage Aux Foille (sp?)?? I have been curious for a long time.

: :
: : I think you're looking for frou-frou which is from French for "a rustle" in reference to the rustling noise made by fancy skirts.
: : "Birds of a feather" was a title that sounded clever in English, not a translation of La cage aux folles (literal translation is something like "the cage of crazy women" but it doesn't translate well hence the change to the English "birds of a feather, flock together" reference).

: I've heard "foo-foo" as a dismissive way of talking about silly luxuries and needless ornament. ~rb

Me too, rb. This very day I saw it in my local newspaper, quoting someone disparaging something or other as "fou fou."
SS