[78-L] FRENCH QUESTION

[Kristjan Saag]

On the other hand...
If you google for the actual use of "très zut" in French you'll find it 
used in everyday language. Like here:
Excuse-moi, tu parle trés trés zut!
Ce non acceptable..

...which literally means:

Excuse me, you talk very very damn!
That's not acceptable

In the song's context

Had a spree in gay Paree
Those mademoiselles were mighty cute, très zut!

that would mean something like:

Those mademoiselles were mighty cute, oh damn!

...which, when followed by the usual praise of Connecticut, would be 
quite logical: they weren't cute enough.
Compare with the previous verse which praises Italy, but ends with a 
comparison with Connecticut:

Dined in Capri, thought it was swell,
Sampled some wine in a Naples hotel,
Though I was showed to road to Rome,
Connecticut still will be my home

Bing doesn't stress the French expression, though, which either means he 
didn't understand the joke, or - my theory is wrong.
Kristjan







On 2011-11-02 10:32, Ray Kilcoyne wrote:
> Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.  I was waiting for Bertrand or
> Patrick to chime in, but no luck.  It looks like the most likely answer is
> that "très zut!" is half French and half English, as in zoot, with a meaning
> of awesome, cool, nice.  I had never heard zoot used that way but there is
> some evidence that it was, back in the 40's.
> RayK
>>
> In the Bing Crosby/Judy Garland recording of CONNECTICUT Bing interjects the
> phrase "très zut".  Can anyone tell me what exactly is the meaning?  I
> believe it dates from around 1945.  Here it is in context......
>
> Italy.... was fun to see,
> And really gave me quite a boot!
> Had a spree in gay Paree,
> Those mademoiselles were mighty cute, très zut!
>
> The song can be heard on YouTube.
> RayK
>
>
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