soi-disant

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The Word of the Day for August 23 is: 

soi-disant   \swah-dee-ZAHNG (the final "NG" isn't pronounced, but the vowel is 
nasalized)\   adjective
     : self-proclaimed, so-called

Example sentence:
     Meredith is a soi-disant gourmet, but her cooking doesn't approach the 
quality demonstrated by the chefs she is so quick to criticize.

Did you know? 
     "Soi-disant," which in French means literally "saying oneself," is one of 
hundreds of French terms that entered English in the 17th and 18th centuries, 
during the period known as the Enlightenment. Even as political antipathies 
between France and England were being played out on battlefields in Europe and 
America, English speakers like Lord Chesterfield (a patron of letters and an 
intimate of Voltaire) were peppering their correspondence with French. 
"Soi-disant" first began appearing in English texts in 1752 as a disparaging 
term for someone who styles or fancies him- or herself in some role (for 
example, a "soi-disant expert"). "Crepe," "vis-a-vis,"
"etiquette," and "sang-froid" are a few of the other French terms that became 
naturalized in English at that time.