How to avoid an unholy linguistic pitfall when speaking French
The French you don鈥檛 learn at school
We look at a well known French phrase, how it should be used and where it comes from
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Certain French words and phrases are bandied about by Anglophones keen to sprinkle a little 蝉辞耻辫莽辞苍 of French into everyday conversation, despite them not necessarily being either grammatically correctly or even understandable by a French native.
The book Sacr茅 Bleu is a perfect case in point.
While it is a clever word play, in that the word bleu here is a sideways reference to the French football team鈥檚 well-loved nickname, the word 蝉补肠谤茅 (pronounced 鈥�sack-ray鈥�) incorrectly employs 鈥� if the author intends to use the Anglicised version of the French phrase 鈥� an acute accent on the 鈥渆鈥�.
In fact, the French would say 鈥�sacrebleu鈥� (with the sacre bit pronounced as 鈥�sac-reuh鈥�) to describe their sense of anger, frustration, astonishment or admiration in a given situation.
The expression sacrebleu is a softened version 鈥� for the God-fearing back in the day 鈥� of 鈥�sacredieu鈥� (Holy God) where bleu (blue) is put in the place of dieu (God) to avoid accusations of blasphemy.
In the Middle Ages, uttering God's name could spell corporal punishment.
Officially speaking, the adjective 蝉补肠谤茅 comes from the Latin verb sancire: to make inviolable by a religious act and then by extension to delimit, to make sacred.
It implies a separation and a transcendence.
One curious and confusing side note: your language noter鈥檚 toddler came home from school recently with a nasty bump on his knee.
His mother gasped as she pointed: 鈥�T鈥檃s un 蝉补肠谤茅 bleu, mon fils!鈥� (You have a nasty bruise there, my son!).
Yes, un bleu is a bruise.
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