Although the term of neologue was applied to Marivaux by Voltaire, and has been repeated ever since, he was less of a neologist than a precieux in language.[145] That is to say, he was less inclined to coin new words, or even to use old words with new meanings, than he was to employ unusual and peculiar turns of expression.[146] Marivaux was not the only writer of the time to make use of expressions precieuses, and, although he figures rather more prominently than most of the authors ridiculed by Desfontaines in his Dictionnaire neologique,[147] he has the company of many others, and among them, of his friends La Motte, Fontenelle, de Houtteville, and even Montesquieu.  Some of the expressions which were considered reprehensible by Desfontaines have since been received into common parlance, and so do not appear unnatural or unusual:  sortir de sa coquille, etc.

Fleury[148] gives six divisions of the peculiar turns of expression employed by Marivaux, which constitute that part of the marivaudage most condemned by his critics: 

1.  The use of a common expression, in which a word is first taken in a figurative sense, to be followed by its literal sense: 

  Il ne veut que vous donner la main.—­Eh! que veut-il que
  je fasse de cette main, si je n’ai pas envie de la prendre?

  Son coeur ne se marie pas, il reste garcon.

2.  The use of a metaphor unexpectedly carried out: 

Un amour de votre facon ne reste pas longtemps au berceau:  votre premier coup d’oeil a fait naitre le mien; le second lui a donne la facon; le troisieme l’a rendu grand garcon.  Tachons de l’etablir au plus vite; ayez soin de lui, puisque vous etes sa mere.

  Monsieur a couru apres moi, je m’enfuyais, mais il m’a jete de l’or,
  des nippes et une maison fournie de tous ses ustensiles a la tete; cela
  m’a etourdie, je me suis arretee.

3.  A metaphor piquant by its oddity: 

  Je crois que j’ai laisse ma respiration en chemin.

  La vie que je mene aujourd’hui n’est point batarde, elle vient bien en
  ligne droite de celle que je menais._

4.  A phrase ending in a surprise: 

  Je gage que tu m’aimes.—­Je ne parie jamais, je perds toujours.

5.  A metonymy put into action: 

  Voyez-vous cette figure tendre et solitaire qui se promene la-bas en
  attendant la mienne?

6.  A rough comparison, which will not admit of examination: 

  Si j’etais roi, nous verrions qui serait reine, et comme ce ne serait
  pas moi, il faudrait que ce fut vous.

Although these divisions are not altogether satisfactory, they, with the examples cited, will serve to convey an accurate enough idea of this side of the marivaudage.  Such expressions, or, at least, those in which the exaggeration of the figure is most apparent, are usually found in the mouths of servants and peasants, to which class such complicated language is not unnatural.[149]