Disclaimer: F Deception(French) and S Deception(Spanish) are both terms that I have coined to group faux amis according to languages and for better understanding.

My first phrase for F Deception will be “vivre en bonne intelligence avec quelqu’un” Many English speakers who happen to know a smattering of French will auto translate this phrase as ‘to live in good intelligence with someone‘ This will give any French person a good laugh -maybe not in front of you. French people are said to be extremely polite.

This French phrase means ‘to be on good terms with someone’ Yes, that’s right. You probably would have never guessed it right. Or maybe you would have. These kinds of language deceptions are known as Faux Amis and they are very common among many Romance languages. Find out what Romance languages are from here.

Faux amis of the day: vivre en bonne intelligence avec quelqu’un

Meaning: to be on good terms with somebody

Alternative meaning: peacefully, harmoniously

Examples

1. Mes parents vivent en bonne intelligence avec les voisins. — My parents are on good terms with the neighbours.

2. Kofi à travaillé en bonne intelligence avec ses collègues. — Kofi worked for harmoniously with his colleagues.

Bonus: The Spanish translation for today’s faux amis will be ‘llevarse bien con alguien” That is a topic for another day.

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