enfirouaper

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French[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Originally enfifrewâper, a nonce word coined in the Montreal newspaper Le Vrai Canard, in August, 1879. From Parisian slang word enfifrer (to bugger (sodomize); to dupe) + another verb, perhaps rouâper, a Québecois variant of râper (to grate).[1]

According to a widely accepted popular etymology (which has even been taken up by a number of reference books), the word comes from English in fur wrapped, but this phrase is almost nonexistent in English,[2] not to mention that the expected phonological change would result in something like *enfirapper.[3]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (file)
  • (file)

Verb[edit]

enfirouaper

  1. (transitive) to scam, swindle, or trick someone [from late 19th c.]

Conjugation[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bovet, L. (2011). "Trouver l’origine, oui, mais la vraie...." Québec français, (163), 96–98.[1]; Thibeault, André. "Ne vous laisser pas enfirouâper par de fausses étymologies!" Cap-aux-Diamants, (96), 29–32[2]
  2. ^ See Google Books results for "in fur wrapped", in which "in fur wrapped" appears only in adjectival use ("in fur-wrapped") and etymologies of "enfirouaper"
  3. ^ Interview with Anne-Marie Beaudoin-Bégin, Québec Réveille[3]

Further reading[edit]