# Is This French Saying Correct and If So, How Is It Properly Pronounced? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-french-saying-correct-and-if-so-how-is-it-properly-pronounced/338313 "2006-01-04T01:05:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-french-saying-correct-and-if-so-how-is-it-properly-pronounced/338313/21 "2006-01-04T22:59:20Z")
Just piping in to say “Thanks” once more for the help, and also for teaching me how to do those foreign (to English) punctuation marks. I learned something else in addition to my original question! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-french-saying-correct-and-if-so-how-is-it-properly-pronounced/338313/22 "2006-01-04T23:10:40Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > I do believe it’s properly “Plus ça change, plus _c’est_ la même chose.” This literally translates as “[the] more it changes, [the] more it’s the same thing.” A “ça” in place of the “c’est” would be gramatically odd, if not incorrect. > > And “c’est” is pronounced like the English word “say”. Mmmm, more like “Meh”, no? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-french-saying-correct-and-if-so-how-is-it-properly-pronounced/338313/23 "2006-01-04T23:12:00Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Mi…cro…soft? I take it you are using an Apple Mac. There’s a very useful shareware application called Popchar. It puts a little button in the menu bar, click on it and up pops a menu of all characters in the currrent font. Very handy for selecting accented characters, or dingbats. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-french-saying-correct-and-if-so-how-is-it-properly-pronounced/338313/24 "2006-01-05T00:13:07Z")
It’s pronounced “Throatwarbler Mangrove.” ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-french-saying-correct-and-if-so-how-is-it-properly-pronounced/338313/25 "2006-01-05T02:33:02Z")
Find yourself a copy of the Rush’s album, Hemispheres, and listen to the song _Circumstances_ to hear the phrase sung (not necessarily correctly), and then translated. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-french-saying-correct-and-if-so-how-is-it-properly-pronounced/338313/26 "2006-01-05T06:33:17Z")
I believe Stephen Fry got the last word on this one: _Plus ça change, plus c’est complètement différente._ ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-french-saying-correct-and-if-so-how-is-it-properly-pronounced/338313/27 "2006-01-05T17:37:35Z")
**différent** (no ‘e’) Argh! It’s starting again! Somebody close it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-french-saying-correct-and-if-so-how-is-it-properly-pronounced/338313.md?page=1)