[78-L] FRENCH QUESTION

[Malcolm Rockwell]

Of course this has nothing to do with 78s, but, expanding a bit,
I think it's more likely to translate as "sh*t" rather than d*mn.
Your two examples could be "Excuse me, but your talking sh*t" or
"Oh, man, that's a load of cr*p!", and "Those mademoiselles were mighty 
cute, no sh*t!"
Zut might even be a corruption of sh*t as used by WW1 or WW2 American or 
British GIs.
Or could it be a corruption of "sh*te?"
So, does the French word zut predate 1915?
Hmmm.
Mal

*******

On 11/2/2011 1:14 AM, Kristjan Saag wrote:
> 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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