“My train was late, and so I arrived really late, you see. »
Does this sentence seem harmless to you? However, it contains three language tics, and not the least! “
Suddenly
”, “
downright
”, “
you see
”... So many words that we use without thinking about it, and so many errors that we cheerfully disseminate in our conversations. In order to remedy the misfortunes of a French language that is daily abused,
Le Figaro
suggests that you identify five tics to proscribe, with the help of Sarah Belmont's work, To put an end to 100 language tics
.
To discover
Crosswords, Sudoku, 7 Letters... Keep your mind alert with Le Figaro Games
You see
“
You see”
increasingly serves as punctuation: it is regularly found at the end of a sentence, closing a sometimes confusing statement. When we cannot express an idea clearly, we rely on the common sense of others. Unconcerned with searching for the right word, we relieve ourselves of this responsibility by appealing to the understanding of our interlocutor, to whom we attribute mentalist abilities.
"You know what I mean"
. On this subject, Sarah Belmont is categorical. “
This formulation betrays an attack of intellectual laziness and calls for a response
:
“No, I don’t see. I'm not in your head! I can’t read your thoughts.”
Furthermore, using sight vocabulary as the sole lexicon of perception contributes to the impoverishment of the language. By using sight too much to express an idea, we crowd out the other senses and their terminologies, even though they are sometimes more suited to the situation.
“Have you seen Taylor Swift’s latest album?”
“You see how he speaks to me!”
If Le Littré does not invalidate these uses, it is better to use more precise verbs.
“Have you listened to Taylor Swift’s latest album?”,
“Can you hear how he speaks to me!”
Downright
Used to answer in the affirmative to a question, or to show enthusiasm,
“outright”
regularly supplants
“yes”
. But it turns out that this is an unfortunate use of the term. Etymologically, it comes from the mathematical lexicon. To cut a sheet into a square is to cut it squarely. Thus, answering
“Completely”
to a proposition is nonsense. Better to use
“willingly”
or
“with pleasure”
.
The meaning of
“downright”
has nevertheless undergone some extensions. It also means “
solidly
”, “
steadily
”, as we can see in
The Count of Monte Cristo
. Alexandre Dumas writes:
“It would have been a curious spectacle to see this beggar, sitting squarely on the stuffed cushions.”
The word can be used to designate a way of speaking directly, and metaphorically, to go straight. In
Memoirs of a Tourist
, Stendhal uses it as follows:
“The road from Bayonne to Pau is a road which constantly goes down, squarely and without any kind of art, in a crowd of small valleys which it goes up in the same way in a line RIGHT."
That works
Impossible to escape it. Whether responding to a colleague or a text message, we have the easy “
it works
”. However, when we think about it, this expression is often premature. Indeed, “
it works
” means that everything is fine, that everything works. Using it spontaneously to respond to a request is to declare victory a little too soon! To the question “
Can you repair the vacuum cleaner
?”, replying “
it works
” would be like saying that the vacuum cleaner is working again… before it has even been repaired. We will therefore prefer replies such as “
I’ll take care of it
”, “
understood
”.
The same goes for “
it’s working
”, which reflects more of a success than the acceptance of a request. An exception can, however, be made regarding “
it’s okay
”. Famous question/answer from our conversations, “
it’s okay
” sometimes seems used mechanically, without real conviction. Who among us, at this question of pure politeness, would jump at the opportunity to confide to a stunned colleague all his troubles of the last three days? Sarah Belmont indicates, however, that there can be a meaning to this expression: “
Until death, life continues its course. Every day brings us a little closer to her. No going back possible. Perhaps this is why we, who are all moving in the same direction, almost automatically respond “It’s okay”, even when nothing is going well…”
However
On this subject, the French Academy is clear: if the “
on the other hand
” is not strictly speaking a mistake, its use is strongly discouraged since it is possible to substitute another adverb or an adverbial phrase such as "
on the other hand
". However, the use of this term is still debated: condemned by Emile Littré, it is nevertheless found in many great French authors such as Proust, Giraudoux and Bernanos. Le Petit Larousse Illustrated also considers the two formulas, “
on the other hand
” and “
on the other hand
”, as perfectly interchangeable.
In order to facilitate the use of these formulas, linguists have undertaken to define their meaning more distinctly. “
On the other hand
” reflects an inconvenience, a negative fact. “
This man is very sporty, but he doesn’t read much
.” The phrase
“on the other hand”
, means
“in compensation”
,
“in return”,
and announces positive information, an advantage, a rebalancing. “
This director makes few films, but they are all of high quality.
» Sarah Belmont adds that Le Larousse.fr evokes a difference in register:
“on the other hand”
would be more relaxed. You choose.
As a result
It opens many of our sentences, fills the gaps in our conversations, gives poorly expressed remarks the air of logical demonstration: “suddenly” is everywhere, to the point of being one of the most used expressions in our language . A situation that Sarah Belmont denounces with humor, who considers “
suddenly
” as “
a supporting actor who has risen to the top of the lexical poster
”. A real linguistic coup d'état therefore, which undermines the use of adverbial conjunctions and other expressions that are much more appropriate. The “
suddenly
” is not, however, an error in itself. Used as an agent complement, it is even relevant. Thus, a boxer who receives an uppercut falls as a result. The immediate consequence allows the correct use of this expression. “
A tire burst, and the car skidded
.” Semantically, “
at once
” is therefore close to “
at once
.”
“
Linguistic hiccup
” which we cannot get rid of as it is so familiar to us, it causes immense harm to French. Not content with supplanting “
therefore
”, “
consequently
”, “
consequently
”, groups of words infinitely more adapted to the situations of which it now has a monopoly,
“as a result”
arises without any real reason to give an impetus, a blow thumbs up to our speech.
“So, where do you want to go for lunch?” »
Let's not wait any longer, and let's wring the neck of this usurper that is
"suddenly"
!