# I have to mangle French for American consumption... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 17, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-mangle-french-for-american-consumption/317483 "2005-08-17T21:27:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-mangle-french-for-american-consumption/317483/1 "2005-08-17T21:27:40Z")
I’m a radio announcer. And I’m a Canadian living in the US. I just found out that I have to read a commercial script for a restaurant that spells itself “Le Bon Temps Roule.” But they want me to pronounce it “le bon ton roo-lay.” I’m not extremely bilingual, but I remember enough of high school French to know that if you were going to say “let the good times roll” it would be “laissez les bon temps rouler.” If you were just going to say “good times roll” it would be “les bon temps roulez.” Francophones, is this correct? What about if there was an accent on the ‘e’? Is **matt\_mcl** in the audience? I think they have their tenses mixed up and it irks me that I probably have to mangle a perfectly good language because the people down here don’t know how to speak it properly. I feel like such a traitor to my country. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![TheInterruptingCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@TheInterruptingCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInterruptingCow)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-mangle-french-for-american-consumption/317483/2 "2005-08-17T21:39:45Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > I’m a radio announcer. And I’m a Canadian living in the US. > > I just found out that I have to read a commercial script for a restaurant that spells itself “Le Bon Temps Roule.” But they want me to pronounce it “le bon ton roo-lay.” ☹ Is it a Cajun-style restaurant? I don’t speak French per se, but I’ve heard that pronunciation used in the context of Louisiana “Bayou” French, and in several zydeco songs… ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-mangle-french-for-american-consumption/317483/3 "2005-08-17T21:52:13Z")
Yes, it’s a Cajun restaurant in the western Florida panhandle. I also have a few different versions of a song by the same name, recorded in New Orleans in the '40s and '50s, and none of the composers or typesetters at the label could agree on how to spell it, either. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-mangle-french-for-american-consumption/317483/4 "2005-08-17T22:21:44Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > I just found out that I have to read a commercial script for a restaurant that spells itself “Le Bon Temps Roule.” But they want me to pronounce it “le bon ton roo-lay.” > > I’m not extremely bilingual, but I remember enough of high school French to know that if you were going to say “let the good times roll” it would be “laissez les bon temps rouler.” If you were just going to say “good times roll” it would be “les bon temps roulez.” Francophones, is this correct? What about if there was an accent on the ‘e’? Is **matt\_mcl** in the audience? From what I’ve learnt, and assuming that “the good times roll” can be translated directly to French (i.e. isn’t some other idiomatic phrase): - \*le bon temps roule \* (in the singular) - \*les bons temps roulent \* (in the plural) In neither case would there be any accented ending on the verb. As for “let the good times roll”, that sounds a bit like a construction that requires the subjunctive (along the lines of _que le bon temps roule_) but I’m sure \*\*matt\_mcl \*\* can advise more appropriately than I. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-mangle-french-for-american-consumption/317483/5 "2005-08-17T22:24:00Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > I just found out that I have to read a commercial script for a restaurant that spells itself “Le Bon Temps Roule.” But they want me to pronounce it “le bon ton roo-lay.” > > I’m not extremely bilingual, but I remember enough of high school French to know that if you were going to say “let the good times roll” it would be “laissez les bon temps rouler.” If you were just going to say “good times roll” it would be “les bon temps roulez.” It would be roulent. Not roulez. And wouldn’t “bon” have to be plural, to agree with “temps”? Can’t remember if that’s one of those weird exception adjectives. But, in any case, I am pretty sure there is no such French phrase as “laissez les bon(whatever) temps roulent.” It doesn’t translate directly. > [@](#): > > What about if there was an accent on the ‘e’? I think it would then translate as (if it even does translate) “the good times rolled.” Matt probably knows this for sure. > [@](#): > > I think they have their tenses mixed up I do too. But if they’re paying you, just say whatever. You can always laugh at them behind their backs.