There were times when Russia was simply fascinated by France. It was French fashion, and French literature, and French. And, accordingly, many words and expressions of foreign origin fell into Russian speech. So, today's publication will be devoted to the expression "tete-a-tete": what it means and how it is translated.
Today
French influence in pre-revolutionary Russia is a well-known fact. This process is quite easy to imagine, for this it is enough to look around to see how today a large number of words of English origin appear in our speech, which, in turn, were borrowed by young people either from films or from songs. Do not forget about the incredibly huge impact of social networks. But, it would seem, outdated French terms are still fighting for their existence in our life and speech. Today, from time to time, here and there you can still hear separate phrases in French. So what does tet-a-tet mean?
Two cases
As noted above, this expression was borrowed from the French language. Tete-a-tete can literally be translated as "head to head." And in this expression the outdated French word teste is used, which means "head". This expression was used and is used in two cases, in two different situations. Firstly, it meant a confidential conversation between two people in private, face to face. Secondly, this is exactly what you can call a romantic conversation or a passionate meeting between two people in love, which is hidden not only from prying eyes, but also from the ears. As you can see, the essence is the same, but the motives are different. But in either case, the same expression can be used.
Synonyms
In the Russian language there is an expression "face to face", which is identical in meaning and meaning to French. This expression also means talking in private, without prying eyes, without witnesses. But unlike the French phraseological unit, in this case there is no romantic background. Using the expression "talk face to face", the interlocutor wants to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. In other words, the conversation will be purely business. It is believed that in order to get closer to a person and understand him, you need to talk with him face to face, that is, in private.
In conclusion, summing up the above, I would like to note that the so-called fashionable words vary from generation to generation. This is a natural process. The influence of such words in modern society should not be underestimated; moreover, I would even like to recommend learning them and entering them into our own dictionary.