/kɔ̃/
K-on
K-on
That's a tough one to pronounce. Try using the sound in 'wrong', take out the wr- and the g. You're close. Then, try putting your lips in the shape of a 'o' and letting the air go through your nose. I know, it's weird. Nasal vowels...
K-on. Make sure to put an explosive K at the beginning, it does half the job.
Con can mean anything from 'idiot' to 'asshole' or 'dumb ass'.
But the actual definition says con means the female sex organ.
It is in the dictionary. I looked it up, I remember quite well, in second grade, with some of my fellow classmates, like everybody else (isn't it precisely what dictionaries are for anyway?).
I remember feeling disappointed. What did that have to do with our good old insult, that we hear everywhere ? Why on earth would it be an insult ? Nobody uses the many words that exist to describe the male anatomy in French as in insult, do they ? (Though, you could say someone is con comme une bite, literally, 'dumb as a dick' which comes out as redundant way to make the gender issue even. But I didn't know that back then ; my bad words skills came to me later).
I remember feeling disappointed. What did that have to do with our good old insult, that we hear everywhere ? Why on earth would it be an insult ? Nobody uses the many words that exist to describe the male anatomy in French as in insult, do they ? (Though, you could say someone is con comme une bite, literally, 'dumb as a dick' which comes out as redundant way to make the gender issue even. But I didn't know that back then ; my bad words skills came to me later).
Still, it has continuously puzzled me. It's probably a question of time, I thought afterwards. Bad words do age, and they get milder and milder with time. The meaning that's still in the dictionary hasn't been used in decades, and the world that was once as shocking as your c-word slowly became a familiar friend that everybody uses.
We use it a lot : 'What a con, this one !'
- and occasionally apply it to ourselves : 'What a con, I forgot the milk again !'
- we can feminize it : conne K-oh-nnuh 'What a conne, I forgot the milk !' (which is ironic again, considering the etymology)
- or use it with a suffix : connard (m), connasse (f), without really altering the meaning. Only it makes it a little more aggressive. 'That was a red light, connard !' (note that the last d is silent)
Occasionally used by the highest moral authorities (though not without a good deal of media turmoil), like in Casse toi alors, pauv'con, namely, 'Beat it then, you asshole'. The famous sentence, which has since turned into a gimmick, was uttered in public and in front of the cameras by Nicolas Sarkozy, then serving as president of our beautiful republic, and directed to a guy who aggressively refused to shake his hand.