Coup d’Etat and Coup de Grace

Watching a rerun of Castle (U.S. television police drama), I was startled to hear a character use the expression “counting coup.” TV script writers rarely throw in literary or historical allusions. I was pleased to hear it, but disappointed to hear the character pronounce the p incoup.

English has borrowed coup from the French not once, but twice.

In about 1400, coup came into English with the literal meaning of “a blow or a stroke.” As a completely naturalized word, this use of coup was pronounced with a p until it dropped out of use.

Later, in about 1640, the word coup was borrowed into Modern English in the expression “coup d’etat.”

coup d’etat /ˌku deɪˈtɑ/. noun. a sudden and decisive stroke of state policy.

In this figurative expression, the p at the end of coup and the t at the end ofetat (French for “state”) are silent.

Several other figurative expressions containing the word coup may be found in English texts written since then. At least two–”coup d’etat” and “coup de grace”–are still common in the general media. “Coup d’etat” is often shortened to coup and used to describe a take-over of power, as in “a military coup.” The p is silent.

coup de grace /kudə ˈgrɑs/ noun. a blow by which one condemned or mortally wounded is quickly killed to be spared further suffering.

As novelist Rick Castle explains to his bewildered detective friends, counting coup refers to a custom of the North American Plains Indians. Counting or taking coup could be a literal touching of an enemy with hand, weapon or stick and escaping alive, but it could also refer to taking a scalp, stealing horses, or any other bold act that bestowed prestige upon the doer.

I’ll mention one more use of coup that may be familiar to billiard players: “to run a coup.” This, according to the OED, is “the act of holing a ball without its first striking another ball.”

In case anyone is wondering, the word coupe, in which the p is pronounced, comes from the French verb couper, “to cut.” The French past participle form is coupé, pronounced /kuˈpeɪ/. American usage dropped the accent mark, changing the pronunciation to /kup/. The word first came into use to describe a type of horse-drawn carriage. Now it refers to a two-door automobile.

75 Idioms and Expressions That Include “Break”

Break and its various forms are found in a number of idioms and expressions. Here is an extensive but likely incomplete list of such usages.

1. All hell break(s) loose: chaos ensues
2. Break bad: defy authority
3. Break bread: to dine together, thus symbolizing peace and cooperation
4. Break a code: figure out a system for disguising communication
5. Break a law: do something illegal
6. Break a leg: an expression from the performing arts equivalent to “Good luck”
7. Break a/the record: exceed the previous best performance
8. Break a habit: stop doing something one does regularly
9. Break a story: be the first journalist to report on an incident or issue
10. Break away: separate from a group
11. Break (one’s) back: expend a great deal of effort for a result
12. Break (one’s) balls: overwhelm or overwork someone
13. Break camp: pack equipment at a campsite in preparation for departure
14. Break down: physically or emotionally collapse, or reduce something to its constituent parts
15. Break even: end up with the same amount of money one had before investing or gambling
16. Break faith: cease to support, or to abide by a promise
17. Break (one’s) fall: prevent a fall of one’s body that might have caused injury
18. Break for: pause for
19. Break formation: cease to operate in an established formation or pattern
20. Break free: release oneself from a literal or figurative restraint
21. Break (one’s) heart: suffer emotional distress
22. Break ground: begin construction
23. Break in (or into): enter by force
24. Break (one) in: introduce someone to something, or initiate someone into something
25. Break it up: an admonition to stop what one is doing, especially arguing or fighting
26. Break loose: separate from
27. Break into a gallop: suddenly increase one’s pace to a gallop while riding a horse
28. Break new ground: begin something new or do something different
29. Break (one) of (something): cause someone to stop doing something habitual
30. Break of dawn: beginning of the day
31. Break off: stop or cease
32. Break open: forcibly open
33. Break out: forcibly remove something from something else, literally or figuratively escape, burst forth suddenly, separate (as into groups), or develop pimples
34. Break out in a cold sweat: become suddenly nervous or frightened so that one literally or figurative perspires
35. Break out in a rash: suddenly develop a skin condition
36. Break out in tears: suddenly begin crying
37. Break ranks: cease to adhere to a certain opinion or cause
38. Break silence: cease to refrain from speaking about something
39. Break (one’s) stride: suddenly stop walking
40. Break the back of: reduce the power or end the domination of
41. Break the bank: use all of one’s funds
42. Break the fourth wall: address an audience directly rather than act as if there is no audience (said of an actor)
43. Break the ice: do something to alleviate awkwardness or nervousness
44. Break the mold: do something differently than it has been done before, or, in the case of a comment that “They broke the mold when . . . ,” a sentiment that someone or something has no equal
45. Break the news: share (often unpleasant) information
46. Break the silence: speak up about a topic previously avoided
47. Break the spell: end a period in which one experienced delight
48. Break through: overcome
49. Break (something) to (someone): provide (usually unpleasant) news or information
50. Break up: to separate into pieces
51. Break up with: to end a romantic relationship with
52. Break wind: create flatulence
53. Break with: end a relationship with
54. Break with tradition: deviate from custom or standard practice
55. Break (one’s) word: renege on a promise
56. Breaking point: the limit of physical or emotional endurance
57. Broke: out of money
58. Broken arrow: military jargon or code referring to an accident involving nuclear weaponry or to a request for air support for a threatened position
59. Broken dreams: unfulfilled aspirations
60. (Sound like a) broken record: sound repetitive, like a vinyl record that skips and therefore repeatedly plays a sound
61. Broken reed: unreliable person (on the analogy of the broken reed of a reed instrument)
62. Even break: even chance
63. (Make a) clean break: escape without complications, or start over again
64. Give me a break: said to express skepticism or exasperation
65. Go for broke: risk everything
66. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: don’t try to improve something that works well
67. Lucky break: fortunate occurrence
68. Make a break for it: attempt to escape or get away
69. Make or break: said of a critical action that will result in significant success or failure
70. Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me: a child’s response to name-calling expressing that he or she is not injured by the name-calling
71. Take a break: pause while working
72. That’s the breaks/them’s the breaks: an expression of mild sympathy for bad luck
73. The straw that breaks the camel’s back: the final unfortunate or unpleasant incident that results in abandoning or rejecting a situation
74. Tough break: bad luck
75. You cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs: a saying referring to the fact that sacrifices must be made to obtain desirable results

Based On vs. Based Around

In a previous post, I wrote about the strange but trendy expression “to be based out of,” a phrase inexplicably used to mean “based in,” or “lives in.”

Now I’ve noticed another expression that uses base in a nonstandard way: “to be based around.”

The first time I noticed this odd usage was in a caption under a photo taken at a school event:

the event was based around The Sisters Grimm [a play].

I couldn’t understand why it didn’t say, “based on.”

A Google search indicates that the expression “to base something around something” is widespread. Here are a few examples in which the intended meanings seem to vary among derived from, modeled on, set in, having to do with, and plain old based on. Some are headlines.

Writing fanfiction based around a story you hate

How to make a story based around a character

The story is based around Maine.

Classic comedy based around shop in Doncaster

Worksheets and tasks based around the Shakespeare play.

This is a common problem with lesson plans based around websites

I want to write a book based around Monopoly

What are some books about based around being alone?

Dutch Artist Starting Religion Based Around Facebook Likes

Kids cartoon book based around a vegetable garden.

Used as a noun, “a base” is a foundation. Building on this meaning, the verb “to base” can have the following meanings:

• to make or form a foundation for something
• to serve as a base for something
• to establish or maintain a base for something
• to use as a base or basis for something

Something can be based on something, but to say that something is based around something makes no sense.

Old Guard and Young Turks

Both terms, Old Guard andYoung Turks, have been adopted for various purposes. According to the Wikipedia disambiguation pages, the terms have been applied to everything from a magazine and Internet news service to a street gang. In a general figurative sense, the terms are ideological opposites.

Originally, the term Old Guardhad military connotations, but now it is used in reference to any type of group. It refers to the older and most conservative faction in an organization. Aversion to change is the old guard’s most salient characteristic.

The term Young Turks originated with the civil conflicts that racked Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century. It referred to opponents of the sultan’s absolute monarchy. They formed the Committee of Union and Progress and seized power in 1913.

Nowadays the terms represent opposing models of leadership. The Old Guard want to keep things as they were. The Young Turks want to change the way things are done and don’t want to do it gradually.

Here are some uses drawn from different countries and different types of organizations.

Tea party vs. old guard in GOP Senate rift (Headline, The Denver Post)

Old guard and young turks combine for stunning victory (Headline for a story about an Australian cricket match)

A storm is brewing within the MDC-T dominated Bulawayo City Council (BCC) as the party’s “young turks” who were elected as councillors in last month’s elections feel the “old guard” had failed the local authority. (Sunday News, Zimbabwe)

[In a book about the C.I.A.] he traces the bitter fights between Langley’s old guard and Young Turks over whether the agency should use the new armed Predator drones to hunt and kill even Osama bin Laden. (New York Times)

Army rifts: Is the old guard taking on the young Turks? (Headline, (Daily Monitor, Uganda)

The majority which would control the vote would be a coalition between the “old guard” Democratic Party establishment, and the “young turks,” recent graduates of the University of Hawaii Law School. (Fighting Tradition: A Marine’s Journey to Justiceby Bruce I. Yamashita)

Santa Cruz Sierra Club: Old Guard vs. Young Turks (Headline, Santa Cruz Patch)

Another “guard” expression is used when new leaders take over from the previous crew: changing of the guard.