MichaelB wrote: ↑Sun Feb 12, 2023 7:22 pm
A literal translation of the opening line of
A bout de souffle is "OK, I'm a cunt", and a very popular French comedy that was remade as
Dinner for Schmucks has a title that literally translates as
Dinner for Cunts - it's just that "con" is nowhere near as taboo in French as its direct English counterpart (hence it turning up in actual marquee titles in a way that's unimaginable in English).
Cons and Cunts aren’t exactly counter-parts though. Cunt always seemed to me (ie a foreigner) like a much harsher word than Cons, which is a familiar and more vulgar variant of Idiot but not an intense swear-word (if necessary, we would often complement it with something like “He’s REALLY dumb” Il est VRAIMENT con”). Dumbass might be a closer word, as Con is often used in a way of describing someone who’s felt to be kind of dumb.
When using back-slang, French can often substitute Con for “teubé”, which is the back-slang for Bête, which is indeed dumb/stupid.
Which also means that Con doesn’t necessary has a true and direct negative connotation to it. Le diner de cons, for instance, shows that it can be a bit tender to people we would call Con, and indeed, it’s also often French answer, for instance, to a silly joke by “Tu es con”, which would be the equivalent of a sweet “Oh, you stupid”.
As such, I’d say that “OK I’m a cunt” is quite a harsher translation, while Dinner for Schmucks isn’t so much a watered down translation than one hitting the right level of intensity between this rather amused but neutral use of Con and the way we can also use it to call someone who’s not really mean but that can feel kind of dumb and exhausting because of that.