2015-11-23

Coup de Grâce

I get irritated by how people routinely mispronounce the phrase "coup de grâce". Most Americans, and most gamers to my knowledge pronounce it incorrectly. In short: the final "e" is silent, but not the "c" before it. In fact, here's the (incorrect) listing printed in the 3E D&D Player's Handbook (p. 276, © 2000):


Again, check out that supposed pronunciation:


I don't know how this could have ever gotten started, because it doesn't match any dictionary, either English or French. Some references, in each case pronouncing the final "s" sound:
  • Dictionary.com, including entries from the Random House Dictionary and others -- including an audio link at the top.
  • Wiktionary.org: "Some English speakers, aware that some final consonants are dropped in French, overcompensate by dropping the final /s/ sound in grâce, making this sound like French coup de gras ('strike of grease'). This mispronunciation is quickly becoming ubiquitous and is being popularized by the media (e.g., it occurs twice in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Volume 2)." Also includes an audio link.
  • Cambridge English Dictionary, with audio link.
  • Oxford Dictionary, with audio link.
  • Collins English Dictionary.
  • Merriam-Webster.
  • Google Translate, with audio link.
Let's get literate, people!

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20 comments:

  1. DanNovember 23, 2015 at 9:54 AM

    Then there's Mardi Gras, which should be pronounced "grah," yet you'll hear a lot of people saw "graw." At least foie gras seems to be largely immune to the phenomenon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jens D.November 23, 2015 at 10:18 AM

    As far as sociolects go, the majority gets to be right :) Another good example would be Italian words in areas like New Jersey, pronounced like no Italian would, but totally legit (and understandable) where they are used on a regular basis in certain social circles or areas ... Sort of like dialects do, just among circles of gamers/pop culture. Language changes like that sometimes, so time will tell.

    And jokes aside, you are right, of course.

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  3. ligeNovember 23, 2015 at 10:44 AM

    Whats the difference between grah and graw? Honest question.

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    Replies
    1. DanNovember 23, 2015 at 10:59 AM

      Do you not pronounce ah and aw differently? Like the doctor examining the inside of your throat telling you to "say ah" compared to "shock and awe," for example?

      Delete
    2. DanNovember 23, 2015 at 2:06 PM

      Okay, looks like this falls under the auspices of the cot-caught merger. Weird; but then again, people who use three distinct pronunciations for merry, Mary, and marry probably think the same about me and my ilk.
      https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cot-caught_merger

      Delete
  4. JBNovember 23, 2015 at 11:10 AM

    @ Delta:

    Man, I am totally with you on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. RobertNovember 23, 2015 at 11:14 AM

    The one that drives me crazy is “quillon”.

    Although, I intentionally mispronounce “depot” & “lasagna”. I figure when you’re speaking English, it is justifiable to pronounce foreign terms Englishy. But I always like to know the correct pronunciation even when I don’t use it.

    And I can’t complain about things like the quality of vowels at all. That can vary so much between speakers of the same language.

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  6. UnknownNovember 23, 2015 at 2:01 PM

    What is even more baffling about the 3e PHB pronunciation guide is the instruction to pronounce "de" as "day". Uh, no. They got that one wrong on all fronts

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    Replies
    1. DeltaNovember 25, 2015 at 12:31 AM

      Good catch. That might help explain why I'm always mispronouncing de.

      Delete
    2. Thiles TargonNovember 26, 2015 at 1:11 PM

      Sounds like they are saying day on the Cambridge link.

      Delete
  7. BaquiesNovember 23, 2015 at 2:44 PM

    My Drow suffered a melee Coup de Grâce while under a geas in a Gaol in Sigil

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  8. AnonymousNovember 23, 2015 at 6:09 PM

    I like to think whoever responsible for the 3E printing just liked the idea of a Strike of Grease but couldn't get the feat into the book.

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  9. Charles ANovember 24, 2015 at 8:12 AM

    Usage determines pronunciation, not etymology. Anytime you start a grammar-/pronunciation-correction with "most people do this wrong" is a clue that there's a new right.

    I'd say that the "mispronunciation" is at least as correct anymore.

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    Replies
    1. DeltaNovember 25, 2015 at 12:34 AM

      I might counter in this case by asking people who say it that way: "Are you pronouncing that the same as in French?" It seems pretty clear that they're intending and failing to say a non-English word (not a new English word).

      Delete
  10. DHBoggsNovember 24, 2015 at 1:38 PM

    The thing that trips me up is the increasing number of folks who don't know the difference between bring and take (same difference as the words coming and going). There's been more than one time I was told to "bring" something, so I went to where I was going and couldn't find the thing I was told to bring bring back with me. When I went back and said I couldn't find it, I was told "no its right here". Come on people. Its "take" out not bring out for pity's sake.

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  11. JamesNovember 24, 2015 at 4:23 PM

    I'm in this Camp, I think

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  12. JDJarvisNovember 24, 2015 at 10:15 PM

    and I thought it was "Koo d'Graw"

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  13. DeltaNovember 25, 2015 at 12:42 AM

    I would take the other side of that bet, because the phrase is too obviously intended to be French in pronunciation (e.g., all the dictionary examples include the accent mark which isn't even an English symbol), and American usage isn't going to change the rules of French. If English writers started to modify the spelling (i.e., Anglicizing it in written works), then that would be a different story.

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  14. DeltaNovember 25, 2015 at 12:56 AM

    And (thinking again that spelling and intent is clearly French) the fact that the dictionary from the French Academy actually is prescriptive gives a phrase like this added "stickiness".

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  15. AnonymousDecember 2, 2015 at 7:54 AM

    It gets me whenever people pronounce "deities" as "dee-it-ees", instead of "day-ut-ees". Then it ends up being spelt "dieties".

    Also there's a guy I know (who teaches fighting at the medievel re-enactment society, and is really amazingly good at it), who pronounces the grace properly, but includes the p in coup. That always sounds a little weird to my ears.

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