Au fond (oh FAWN) – a French term – literally means “at the bottom.” It’s used as a highfalutin synonym for “fundamentally,” “essentially,” or “in reality.” As used by Margaret Atwood in The Testaments: “Some days I see myself as the Recording Angel, collecting together all the sins of Gilead, including mine; on other days I shrug off this high moral tone. Am I not, au fond, merely a dealer in sordid gossip?”