# What does this French phrase mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943 "2015-07-12T13:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/1 "2015-07-12T13:59:58Z")
“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? ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/2 "2015-07-12T14:09:06Z")
I’m pretty much positive that should be ‘Quand les comptes prennent vie’, meaning ‘when the stories come to life’. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/3 "2015-07-12T15:19:18Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/4 "2015-07-12T15:35:04Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > I’m pretty much positive that should be ‘Quand les comptes prennent vie’, meaning ‘when the stories come to life’. 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”. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/5 "2015-07-12T17:48:43Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > I’m pretty much positive that should be ‘Quand les comptes prennent vie’, meaning ‘when the stories come to life’. 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 ;). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/6 "2015-07-12T18:26:38Z")
There is no English title “count”. The word is used to refer to the equivalent in other countries, such as “Comte” in French. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/7 "2015-07-12T18:41:29Z")
Even if there are no Counts within English aristocracy, it still is an English-language noun referring to specific aristocrats. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/8 "2015-07-12T22:37:41Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Even if there are no Counts within English aristocracy, it still is an English-language noun referring to specific aristocrats. And there are countesses. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/9 "2015-07-13T00:14:22Z")
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”? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/10 "2015-07-13T00:17:14Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > And there are countesses. And Viscounts, which are both Peers and a type of turboprop-powered passenger airplane. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/11 "2015-07-13T00:57:21Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > 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”? “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”. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/12 "2015-07-13T03:25:08Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > “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”. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-french-phrase-mean/724943/13 "2015-07-13T09:31:31Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > 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. :smack: I got mixed up by an Italian faux-ami thing (‘conto’ is ‘bill’ or ‘account’). Should’ve checked.