# It's coup de grace **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314 "2007-01-09T17:52:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/21 "2007-01-09T21:14:35Z")
Yes, but it’s chowdah, not show-dehr. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/22 "2007-01-09T21:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] All right, so how do you say Havre de Grace, MD? [/QUOTE] Maybe we should ask Brett Favre. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/23 "2007-01-09T21:46:02Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] All right, so how do you say Havre de Grace, MD? [/QUOTE] Dr. Havre de Grace? Okay, bad joke. I’ll atone: _“Hail, Mary, full of grass…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Smooth\_Jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Smooth\_Jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smooth_Jack)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/24 "2007-01-09T21:53:09Z")
It’s clear none of you have been to Versailles… (Indiana). ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/25 "2007-01-09T21:56:28Z")
[QUOTE=Smooth Jack] It’s clear none of you have been to Versailles… (Indiana). [/QUOTE] No. But, how about Portage la Prairie, Manitoba? Pronounced Portidge. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/26 "2007-01-09T21:59:18Z")
[QUOTE=GingerOfTheNorth] No. But, how about Portage la Prairie, Manitoba? Pronounced Portidge. [/QUOTE] Or Cairo, Illinois - pronounced Ka-Ro with a hard “A”. Or Vienna, IL, pronounced Vy-Anna. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/27 "2007-01-09T22:05:43Z")
And can we puh-leeeeze use the term for what it was borrowed to mean? It is **not** synonymous with any final taking of life; it means, specifically, a “mercy killing” in the broad sense. E.g., if you were a knight on the battlefield and had mortally wounded your opponent, who was dying slowly from having his intestines sliced open by your sword or something equally euuch-making, you might grant him a quicker death by, e.g., stabbing him through the heart, as an act of _grace_ – a compassionate ending of his agony. **That** was the original coup de grace. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/28 "2007-01-09T22:13:46Z")
Okay, okay, but would some French speaker mind telling us exactly what \*coup de grace \*means? Besides the “day gra” issue, a lot of people misuse it to mean the last shot in a game, rather than the more grisly meaning. I’m told it means “merciful killing blow,” or something. I don’t parsley view Frank-case, myself. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/29 "2007-01-09T22:15:32Z")
Oops. :smack: I see Polycarp did that while I was cogitating. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/30 "2007-01-09T22:19:04Z")
Thank you, **Gigi** , and now, can we address “Sauvignon Blanc” ? It’s pronounced _blan_, not _blon **k** _. There, I feel better already. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/31 "2007-01-09T22:33:21Z")
_Coup de gras_ would be what, slapped with a slab of lard? [/QUOTE] montypython/ go away now or I shall assault you with an obese fowl a second time/montypython ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/32 "2007-01-09T23:13:29Z")
Then there’s Pend O’reille. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/33 "2007-01-09T23:13:56Z")
It’s really coup de gr **â** ce. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/34 "2007-01-09T23:31:57Z")
This is why I never try to use furrinner-talk, ‘cuz it’d make me luke stupud. Er. Stupud-er. Sum’pin’. ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/35 "2007-01-09T23:40:31Z")
I’ve always wondered if I should care when someone says “pree fee” for “prix fixé.” Or maybe even, “pricks ficks.” There’s a current KIA commercial where the actress is supposed to be singing “adieu, adieu, adieu adieu adieu” but she sounds more like she’s saying “a-deew”. Not only is it mispronounced french, to my cantonese ears it sounds almost exactly like she’s saying “aw fuck, aw fuck, aw fuck aw fuck aw fuck.” ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/36 "2007-01-10T00:47:49Z")
[QUOTE=outlierrn] _Coup de gras_ would be what, slapped with a slab of lard? [/QUOTE] montypython/ go away now or I shall assault you with an obese fowl a second time/montypython [/QUOTE] Not the _coup de foie gras_!! :eek: That would be a fowl blow indeed, sir! Note: If anyone threatens to assault you with an overfed goose, duck! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/37 "2007-01-10T01:35:36Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Note: If anyone threatens to assault you with an overfed goose, duck! [/QUOTE] Is that some sort of old _canard_? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/38 "2007-01-10T03:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=trupa] Thank you, **Gigi** , and now, can we address “Sauvignon Blanc” ? It’s pronounced _blan_, not _blon **k** _. There, I feel better already. [/QUOTE] Let’s not get carried away. Your victory is not a parfait accomplice. When I order wine, “Sauvignon Blanc” is pronounced “this one here.” “It’s strange that the English don’t have a word for _sang froid_, and yet the French, who rarely exhibit it, do.” --Robert Wilson, _The Company Of Strangers_ If I spoke French, maybe I’d know whether the German spy character was insulting the English or the French. If I did speak French, though, the French would always rag on me for my sloppy accent, and my fellow Americans would call me a snob. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/39 "2007-01-10T04:14:54Z")
[QUOTE=Mr Bus Guy] Or Cairo, Illinois - pronounced Ka-Ro with a hard “A”. Or Vienna, IL, pronounced Vy-Anna. [/QUOTE] Couldn’t figure out why people in Vermont didn’t understand me saying Montpelier. Didn’t realize that a couple hundred miles turned ‘Mohnpellyay’ to ‘Mawnt - PEEL - yer’ :eek: Then I’d hear ads for ‘Ben-OYT’ car dealers. Spelled, of course, ‘Benoit’. ‘What we have here is a failure…’ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314/40 "2007-01-10T04:30:34Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] Couldn’t figure out why people in Vermont didn’t understand me saying Montpelier. Didn’t realize that a couple hundred miles turned ‘Mohnpellyay’ to ‘Mawnt - PEEL - yer’ :eek: Then I’d hear ads for ‘Ben-OYT’ car dealers. Spelled, of course, ‘Benoit’. [/QUOTE] I live in Montreal, and still, in a province of French-speakers, I have to hear radio ads for some store called “Lekky-poor”. Took me _months_ to figure out they meant “L’Equipeur”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coup-de-grace/387314.md?page=3)