“Quand les comtes prennent vie”
Google translate gives “when the counts come alive,” which I already understood from a very very literal interpretation, but how is the phrase actually used? What thought does it express?
I’m pretty much positive that should be ‘Quand les comptes prennent vie’, meaning ‘when the stories come to life’.
Or a play on words referencing that sentence, meaning that sometimes accounting books can tell the most fascinating stories to those who know how to read them.
Knowing the context would help. In a story about Enron for example, I’d bet on play on words.
I would think “conte”, not “compte”. Both of them mean “story” in a certain sense; but the former’s meaning is closer to “tale”, while the latter is more like “account”.
Bzzzt. Close, but no cigar. But I’ll grant that’s a tough one, so much so that many many Frenchmen are confused by those three homonyms.
“Compte” is “count” or “account”, as in a sum/total or a bank account. The noun’s derived from the verb “compter”, meaning to count.
“Conte” is the word for stories, or more precisely tales. Noun derived from the verb “conter”, meaning telling a tale.
To complicate things further, both of these verbs have a single Latin root : computare, meaning to count… or to spin a tale :p. But their modern French spelling and meanings are wholly distinct.
“Comte” is “count”, as in the nobleman. That one actually comes from the Latin comes, meaning companion or servant - same as the English title count actually, since it’s one y’alls nicked from us (the equivalent Anglo-Saxon-root word for that particular rank/concept being earl, from jarl).
As for the OP specifically, it’s not a stock phrase I’m familiar with, although “when (or where) tales become real/come to life” would be somewhat… well, not a cliché per se since as I said it’s not a set idiom ; but a relatively common image/concept. I suppose it could be a play on words, but absent context my money’d be on erroneous spelling first ;).
There is no English title “count”. The word is used to refer to the equivalent in other countries, such as “Comte” in French.
Even if there are no Counts within English aristocracy, it still is an English-language noun referring to specific aristocrats.
And there are countesses.
I think eclectic wench has it right, but it’s misquoted in the OP.
le comte = “the count” (or, more or less, “the earl” in the UK)
le conte = “the tale” or “story”; related to English “account” as used to mean a detailed history or explanation. Compare “recount”, raconteur, etc.
It should be quand les contes prennent la vie. Wouldn’t this make it about the same as the English phrase “truth is stranger than fiction”?
And Viscounts, which are both Peers and a type of turboprop-powered passenger airplane.
“Quand les contes prennent vie” (without “la”) would be be more correct.
I’m not particularly familiar with this sentence, either (it’s not some sort of common saying), but the meaning seems rather straightforward, something like “when tales become reality”.
Oops, I put in the article without thinking. I meant only to change “comtes” to “contes”.
:smack: I got mixed up by an Italian faux-ami thing (‘conto’ is ‘bill’ or ‘account’). Should’ve checked.