doris day Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Do anyone know a good English translation for this? I've seen two-faced but am not sure this fits the description I was given.Thanks Doris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 When you say that someone is de mauvaise foi , you're describing the person as insincere or hypocritical.Please note spelling:foi = faithfoie = liverfois = times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 And all pronounced exactly the same!!![:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 When someone acts 'de mauvaise foi', they are acting in bad faith, ie with an intention to deceive.'Foi / foie / fois' can cause problems - when I lived in France, I kept hearing of people having a 'crise de foi', which I took to mean they had started to have serious doubts about God. In fact they were just feeling 'liverish', bilious![+o(]M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 What a coincidence!I am reading my second French book after taking a year out to get over reading the first one twice, its amazing to see how much progress I have made with the language since the last time, this time round I have not yet used a dictionary and I am 68 pages in after 2 insomniac sessions.I dont understand every word but can work out the meaning from the context just as I do in everyday speech, interestingly the past historic tense is not giving me any problems yet I doubt that I have seen it written since the last time.Back to the topic, I have realised that many words that I have learnt through conversation I have misunderstood the spelling and only last night learnt that it is mauvaise foi not foie.The other amusing discovery was the river Thames, I had always put it down to the French pronunciation when they said "Tammeese" I didnt know that it is in fact la riviere Tamise [:)] I bet there is a tale behind how that came about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plod Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Bit like how the Arsenal fans came to be known as "gooners" I expect. It was supporters of a Belgian football club who pronounced "gunners" in the usual way of a French "u" viz "oo". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doris day Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 Thanks for that. I really thought it was "bad liver!" I'm a little disappointed I must say! In fact, the French person I was discussing the meaning with thought it was "foie" too. Having a bad liver might indeed make you behave badly, n'est pas? Doris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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