# Do you use the word froufrou? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2022, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417 "2022-07-23T08:31:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![filmstar-en](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/41 "2022-07-25T15:08:51Z")
Chi chi seems to have a similar meaning. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/42 "2022-07-25T15:25:18Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > A drink with a paper umbrella is frou-frou. I was on a beach in Florida with my dad (who is as Un-Frou as you can get, used to drink Blatz beer out of the can). But as he settled into his folding chaise he said “What do you think those drinks are, the ones with umbrellas in them?” As I trudged up the beach to the little cabana, I was singing _Boat drinks_ _Waitress I need two more boat drinks_ _Then I’m headin’ south 'fore my dream shrinks_ _I gotta go where it’s warm_ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/KSfONJYIyGM/maxresdefault.jpg "Jimmy Buffett Boat Drinks") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSfONJYIyGM) ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/43 "2022-07-26T04:16:13Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Should I? > > I thought “Bougie” was the word we were using. > > I’m clearly not sitting at the cool kids’ table. > > [Urban Dictionary: Bougie](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bougie) IIRC, “Bougie” is the French word for “spark plugs”. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/44 "2022-07-26T10:04:15Z")
Seen it in writing a few times, never used it. Lived in Northeast and Midwest. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/45 "2022-07-26T10:53:20Z")
I must have mis-heard it way back when, because I would say _foo-foo_ instead. Not that it was a huge or necessary bit of vocabulary for me… ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/46 "2022-07-26T13:31:30Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I would say _foo-foo_ instead Perhaps conflated with this [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yTqVltEy4JY/maxresdefault.jpg "Little Bunny Foo Foo | Rock 'N Learn Kids Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTqVltEy4JY&t=8) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/47 "2022-07-26T15:17:19Z")
I think I would use it more in French than English, where I’d be more likely to use ‘chi-chi’ or “flim-flam”, to mean unnecessary frills or fuss. Mostly in a travel/entertainment context. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/48 "2022-07-26T17:24:43Z")
I’ve heard chi-chi rarely. And flim-flam is not a synonym at all. Flim flam is a con. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/49 "2022-07-26T17:59:32Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I think I would use it more in French than English, where I’d be more likely to use ‘chi-chi’ or “flim-flam”, to mean unnecessary frills or fuss. Mostly in a travel/entertainment context. FWIW the French Academy dictionary lists no meaning beyond the noise made by silk fabrics, and neither does the Oxford English Dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/50 "2022-07-28T02:44:25Z")
I’ve used it occasionally, but it feels somewhat old fashioned to me, like a word that would be used more in other generations. Part of that might be because of the frou-frou drink, which I associate with being an insult to men who drink “girly” drinks, a sentiment that seems to be receding. Why should making a drink taste less like alcohol be this horrible thing? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/51 "2022-07-28T03:26:55Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I think I would use it more in French than English, where I’d be more likely to use ‘chi-chi’ or “flim-flam”, to mean unnecessary frills or fuss. Ooh, there’s an interesting regional variation: AFAIK in US English, “flim-flam” implies not “chi-chi” but rather “chi-canery”. The connotational realm of, not flouncy fluffy fuss and frills, but sneaky shady slimy shills. I, a native northeastern US resident, do occasionally use the term “frou-frou” to convey “fussily overdecorated, exaggeratedly ‘girly’, very self-consciously fancy”. Honestly though, I can’t remember the last time I’ve even seen anything I’d call “frou-frou”. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/52 "2022-08-01T21:17:03Z")
I confess that on occasion I have and do use the term "frou-frou, but then, I am an old guy. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/53 "2022-08-01T22:59:33Z")
It’s a cookie, I use the name whenever appropriate. “I’d like another frou-frou please” [Link](https://www.verkade.nl/producten/koekjes-en-beschuit/frou-frou-vanille/) ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/54 "2022-08-01T23:06:27Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Flim flam is a con I listen to the “-Ologies” podcast with Alie Ward (highly recommended, by the way) and she uses the term “flim-flam” with a different meaning - something like widely-believed but untrue “facts”, misinformation, not necessarily malicious but possibly edging into woo territory. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/55 "2022-08-01T23:08:51Z")
Coming back to the OP, I have never used or heard the word frou-frou at all. It is not part of my vocabulary though I would guess the meaning from context. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/56 "2022-08-03T10:11:48Z")
It’s the name of Imogen Heap’s old band, so yes. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417/57 "2022-08-03T11:51:35Z")
One time in my life so far. When I saw a picture of Marchesa Luisa Casati in an over-the-top elaborate gown (intentionally designed to be _de trop_), all I could say was: “Frou-frou the wah-zou.” [![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c9fEAQePm2M/UzGM4L0IVwI/AAAAAAAAPNI/W801hix6dPU/s1600/9379a96f9193b00ffa3009707d47919a.jpg) ](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c9fEAQePm2M/UzGM4L0IVwI/AAAAAAAAPNI/W801hix6dPU/s1600/9379a96f9193b00ffa3009707d47919a.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-the-word-froufrou/968417.md?page=2)