Avoid linguistic 'blind spots' with a reliable word

Some French words or phrases are like linguistic blind spots to expatriates – no matter how many times you read or hear them, you cannot remember what they mean. 

Perhaps you struggle with the correct pronunciation, in order to employ them with great pride at an opportune moment during a conversation with a friend or neighbour. 

One of my blind spots, until very recently, was the French word for ‘reliable’. [One might argue that this is not a word one might reasonably be expected to call upon with great regularity – these days, its antonym ‘unreliable’ is infinitely more handy]. 

Chatting to an acquaintance about the differences in reliability between electric versus petrol mowers (not the most riveting – captivant – of conversations, it must be said), the French word for reliable just would not make itself known to me. 

In desperation, I plumped instead for the less specific ‘ça marche très bien’ (that works very well), referring to one or other of the types of tondeuse. 

The actual word is fiable which comes from the verb ‘se fier’, itself derived from the Old French words ‘feable’ (12th Century) or ‘fei’ (foi).

Here we get to the heart of the matter: it’s a question of faith, with the word derived from the root of ‘fier’, originally meaning ‘someone in whom one can have faith’ (trustworthy) and, in its modern technical sense, something that is safe and fault-free. 

The French antonym is peu fiable.

As for the French for ‘blind spot’, you are most likely to see it written alongside an illustration on the back of a lorry when stuck in traffic: angle mort. In a figurative sense, use point aveugle.