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by a3_nm 2666 days ago
Yeah -- I'm French and I had never realized that "inoui" was somewhat close to "ennui". In French pronunciation the two first vowels are really different ("ennui" in French starts with a nasal 'a' sound which doesn't resemble an 'i' at all, to French ears at least).

Another point missed by the article is that in French "ennui" usually doesn't have the philosophical undertones that it has in English. Outside of a philosophical context, in French "ennui" (as a feeling) just means "boredom" and that's it. In everyday French you also use "ennui" to mean an annoyance or trouble, i.e., "avoir des ennuis" means "run into trouble", or "l'ennui c'est que ..." means "the problem is that..."
1 comments
microcolonel 2666 days ago
> In French pronunciation the two first vowels are really different ("ennui" in French starts with a nasal 'a' sound which doesn't resemble an 'i' at all, to French ears at least).

Yeah, I was confused when I tried to understand the connection they were trying to make.

> Another point missed by the article is that in French "ennui" usually doesn't have the philosophical undertones that it has in English.

Fatty liver is a disease, foie gras is a delicacy. ;- )

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aidenn0 2665 days ago
At my D&D table we pronounced "Coup de grâce" as someone french might pronounce "Coup de gras" for years the latter of which translates to something along the lines of "Blow of fat (or grease)" (rather than "Blow of mercy")

[edit]

For non-francophones, the correct pronunciation is roughly "Koo day grass" and we were saying "Koo day grah"

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moviuro 2665 days ago
Hmm, more like "Koo de grass", where "e" is pronounced as in "err" (hesitation): listen to https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=fr&t...
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mc32 2666 days ago
But we could say “fatted liver” and that would work, but of course food sophisticates need a more sophisticated term for their food to taste better.
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frutiger 2666 days ago
Side note: grammatically "fattened liver" should be preferred over "fatted liver".
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mc32 2666 days ago
For the fattening of animals intended as food it’s typically accepted grammar to use “fatted” as in a “fatted pig”.

Same as “datums” is correct in some contexts.

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falsedan 2665 days ago
> it’s typically accepted grammar to use “fatted” as in a “fatted pig”

no it ain't, it's extremely out-of-mode

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microcolonel 2665 days ago
Really though, fatted is the word; and in this context, it is the more direct translation of gras.
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