4 ms·
You forgot: Je vous prie de bien vouloir agréer, Monsieur, l'expression de mes honnêtes et respectueuses salutations.
by pcrh 14y ago
You forgot:
Je vous prie de bien vouloir agréer, Monsieur, l'expression de mes honnêtes et respectueuses salutations.
- jacquesm 14y agoThere is a note of subtlety there that I find hard to translate but my French interpreter detects a very subtle note of sarcasm in that carefully worded salutation. When you've been insulted you can insult back by throwing rotten fish or you can insult back by being very explicitly correct and I sense this is some slight variation of that. Maybe someone who is more experienced in French can confirm or deny that.
- pcrh 14y agoActually, the sarcasm would only be perceived by an Anglophone. That is a fairly standard salutation in French, further, it is one that indicating that the recipient is of higher status than the sender. French salutations are notoriously flowery and with complex rules (which I have probably gotten wrong here, being primarily an Anglophone myself).
- guizzy 14y agoIt's a very formal salutation. Its inclusion in an otherwise informal message is very sarcastic, and most native french speakers would take it as such. That's actually what the minister did in his reply.
- jacquesm 14y agoI figured as much.