n. a word used in the entertainment industry to mean a respectful reference or tribute to someone or something else in the industry; for example, a remake film might make an hommage to the original.
The word is pronounced "oe-MAZH". Originally the word was one and the same as
homage (pronounced "OM-ij" or "HOM-ij"), but filmmakers started thinking this word ("homage") was borrowed from French (which it is not), and wanted to sound sophisticated or more accurate, so they started pronouncing it as though it were French. When the people
tasked with writing things down realized you couldn't spell the sound "oe-MAZH" as "homage", they wisely decided to use the French version of the word ("hommage"), and thus filmmakers avoided
scathing ridicule for not knowing how to pronounce an honest English word.
Lady Gaga makes an hommage to
Alfred Hitchcock in her song "
Bad Romance" by saying, "I want your psycho, your vertigo
schtick—want you in my rear window, baby you're sick."