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CHEZ
Preposition. Mid-18th century.
[French from Old French chiese from Latin casa cottage.]
At the house or home of.
Going to stay with Grandma for the summer? Or visiting Mum & Dad at the weekend? Then why not jazz it up a bit by saying your summering chez Grandma, or passing the weekend chez Mama & Papa? Sounds much better, doesn't it? And it saves you characters on Twitter too; that alone is reason to start using chez.
Do you stay or do you chez?
Do please leave your homeliest comments in the box below.
I don't see how "chez maman & papa" saves you characters compared to "at Mum & Dad's", but it certainly has a more melodic ring to it.
ReplyDeleteOh Bibi! Trust you! Just because I didn't bother to count ...
DeleteNow let's run the numbers using the example I gave above (summering):
I'm summering chez Mum & Dad (28)
I'm summering at Mum & Dad's house (34)
I'm summering with Mum & Dad at their house (43)
I'm summering in the house of Mum & Dad (39)
I'm summering in the home of Mum & Dad (38)
Nope ... definitely 'chez' saves you characters.
"Ah," I hear Bibi protest, "but the phrase 'staying at Mum & Dad's' implies that you're staying at their house, and therefore the whole 'house' bit is redundant."
But, Bibi, 'chez' means 'at the house of', so running a like-for-like definition dictates that you specify you're summering at their house, which is especially important if your parents have a retreat, a yacht, a caravan, a villa, a resort, a barge, a castle, or any other such place where one might summer with one's parents (and if one is inclined to use the word 'chez', it's quite possible you're of the demographic where one's parents would have such things and you're the type that wants to tweet about it).
So there. I'm off for a lie down.
I'm usually simmering at Mum and Dad's house but that's because my Mum can be really annoying.
DeleteHa! Brilliant. I know that feeling well.
Delete