4 ms·

The author mentions the similarity between the name InOui and "ennui" (boredom), but seem to ignore that "inouï" is an actual word that means unprecedented/incr

• a3_nm 8y 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..."
  • microcolonel 8y 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. ;- )
    • mc32 8y 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.
      • frutiger 8y ago
        Side note: grammatically "fattened liver" should be preferred over "fatted liver".
        • mc32 8y 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.
          • falsedan 8y ago
            > it’s typically accepted grammar to use “fatted” as in a “fatted pig” no it ain't, it's extremely out-of-mode
            • microcolonel 8y ago
              Really though, fatted is the word; and in this context, it is the more direct translation of gras.
              • falsedan 8y ago
                literal translations are inhuman. write what your audience will understand, not what the isomorphic pair based on linguistic common ancestor is unless being right is more important than communicating effectively
    • aidenn0 8y 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"
      • moviuro 8y 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&tl=en&text=coup%20de%20gr%C3%A2ce https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=fr&t...
• umanwizard 8y ago
  Thinking "ennui" and "inouï" sound similar is a bit like a non-native English speaker finding it hard to distinguish between "bottom" and "button". The vowels may sound similar to outsiders, but are completely different to French ears. (I'm not French, but I speak the language well enough to feel confident making assertions like this about what things sound like to French people).
  • frutiger 8y ago
    The vowels don't even sound similar to my anglophone but French-familiar ears.