façon de parler

façon de parler

“Désolé si je t'ai vexé, c'était juste une façon de parler.” — Sorry for having annoyed you, it was a façon de parler.

Literally, “way of speaking”, “manner of speech”.

so to speak, in a manner of speaking, if one can call it that, if one can put it that way

Literally, “way of speaking”, “manner of speech”.