milieu:

surroundings, esp. of a social or cultural nature

how to use in causal conversation:

"it is hard to explain the milieu of the party. the shorts are short, and the sweaters are fuzzy"

not to be confused with:

beaulieu

how it makes me feel:

i used to like this word. it has a certain...je ne sais quoi. that's probably just because it's french like entrepreneur, or crepe. though it feels like it's lacking something. it's like a slurpee without a straw. sure it looks good and you'll probably find it tasty but without a straw the whole experience is just sloppy and something you probably wouldn't repeat because you'll always remember and be reminded of "that one time with the slurpee" where you had frozen orange fanta in your beard for what felt like days but it was summer and who was really sober enough to be paying attention to your facial hair, right? hell we spent a good part of summer solstice passed out, wine drunk in the middle of a park before we revived ourselves long enough for me to eat $18 worth of 'fair food', including 3 of 4 items which were hot-dog-based, all against a backdrop of the northwest's premier neil diamond cover band. in truth, that day pretty much established the milieu of the entire summer.