A common recourse for the racist is to disguise ugly sentiments with flowery words. Xenoepist, meaning one who speaks with a foreign accent, should, therefore be in every xenophobe’s vocabulary. For the racist, a xenoepist is a verbal barbarian (in the Greek sense of the word, of course) who is probably taking our jobs or women. For the rest of us, the word describes guests of the nation who enrich an adopted language with the sounds and flavours of their mother tongue. Etymology: from the Greek: Xeno (Foreign, alien, or guest).

“Eusebius de Montpassant cut an exotic swathe through the parlours and salons of polite society. The dapper xenoepist delighted hangers-on with his tall levantine tales and oriental misadventures.’”