France {was: Chile]

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/7/2010 07:49 AM, David A. Daniel wrote:
>Another foreign-language hypercorrection that I have watched become popular
>over the last 10 or 20 years or so is the substitution of Coup de Grace
>(pronounced Grahss), which is the strike/blow of mercy, with Coup de Gras
>(pronounced Grah) which of course is the Strike/Blow of Fat. I used to hear
>Coup de Grah occasionally, but now seem to hear it almost exclusively.
>Apparently Americans think no French word ever has an ss sound on the end.
>The Coup de Gras always gives me interesting mental images.
>DAD

Then there are hypocorrections.  It rasps my ear to hear the
(British) announcers of the Tour de France" say "de" but then give
"France" the English pronunciation instead of "Frahnce".

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org