langue de bois

Calque of Polish drętwa mowa, itself a calque from Russian дубо́вый язы́к (dubóvyj jazýk, “coarse, heavy language”, literally “oaken language”). Originally referring to the language of the tsarist bureaucracy, it was later used by the Solidarność movement in Poland and then picked up by the French media.

• IPA^(key): /lɑ̃ɡ də bwa/

langue de bois f (plural langues de bois)

1. wooden language, waffle (speech that is vague, pretentious or evasive)

   Synonym: xyloglossie

2. cant (empty hypocritical talk)

• → English: wooden language (calque)

• novlangue

• langue de bois on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr
• wooden language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia