//ooc: Mun’s going to take this one bc I know there’s some debate about his name, and part of the confusion is bc
in movie!IWTV it is pronounced more like “Les-CAT” with a somewhat softened second T, and there’s canon that has him indicating that alternate, “less-DOT” wackiness.
My headcanon is that he prefers the “Les-CAT” version, in especially domestic moments, Louis will call him “ ‘Stat,” which, incidentally, is also the abbreviation for a medical emergency, which they both find humorous.
I just cut a random set of three shots w/ different characters pronouncing his name; Claudia, Louis, and Armand: I even did subtitles theses are the lengths I go to for you!
IIRC, we don’t actually see Lestat say his own name in the movie, but he presumably told Louis and Claudia how he prefers it.
Personally, I prefer the IWTV film adaptation version, it feels warmer to me than that harsh “DOT.” AR was involved with that adaptation so she could have made a point to have it pronounced however she wanted, and Neil Jordan had worked with her very closely, so I doubt he would have overrode her on that but it’s possible he decided it should be pronounced differently to how she preferred.
IIRC, the books don’t actually indicate the pronunciation until several books in, and many ppl do not consider these later books canon anyway, but here’s a quote re: his name’s pronunciation:
From Blackwood Farm (2002), when asked his name: “ ‘Lestat, Madam,’ he answered, pronouncing it “Les-dot,” with the accent on the second syllable.“
TBH I wouldn’t even consider a native French speaker a total authority on this since “Lestat” was an invented name which came from Anne’s husband’s name, Stan, with “Le” added to the front for “The,” and she has said that she intended for the name to be “Lestan” but made a typo and VOILA! we have “Lestat.” So it’s not a name that’s really based on Frenchness other than the “Le.”
ANYWAY here’s an older post with some more thoughts on his name… and one of our fandom’s native French speakers (who is also a language teacher!), @takemetocoffin-or-losemeforever, even made a video pronouncing Louis’s name (and Lestat’s!):
So it’s up to you how you want to pronounce it but I go with movie!IWTV.
Mon amour – My love
Ma chérie/Mon chéri – My darling
Mon coeur – My heart (literally)
Mon bébé – My baby
compliments
Tu es magnifique – You are gorgeous. Tu es une fille/un garçon en or – You’re a girl/a boy as precious as gold.
Tu es plus belle/beau chaque jour qui passe – You get prettier every day.
Tu es parfait(e) comme tu es – You are perfect just the way you are.
random things
Je ne peut pas vivre sans toi – I can’t live without you. Tu es mon tout – You are my everything.
Mon coeur t’appartient – My heart belongs to you.
Je suis tienne/tien – I am yours.
ways to say I love you
Je t’aime plus que tout – I love you more than anything.
Mon amour pour toi est infini – My love for you is endless.
Je suis follement amoureuse/eux de toi – I am crazy in love with you.
When Lestat gives his name at Starbucks occasionally they’ll get it right but most of the time it’s stuff like “Lester” “Leslie” “Leshan” and on one occasion he spent the night in a huff because they gave him a cup that just said “La Shat”
Some have expressed interest in what sources I use for references to the Royal Maréchausée or Nicolas’ political views or assignat inflation debates or les Amis de la Verité. Much of it is an accumulation of a lifetime of interest, but here are some good sources to get started:
Maria Linton, Choosing Terror: Virtue, Friendship and Authenticity in the French Revolution (2013)
How do a bunch of well-meaning dudes end up guillotining people who just look at them funny later?
Mark Darlow, Staging the French Revolution: Cultural Politics and the Paris Opéra, 1789-1794 (2012)
Really amazing archival research showing how cultural discourse via performances were key to forming public opinion, even though the state had a super-monopoly on what got to be performed.
Remember how Lestat talks about how Renaud’s isn’t really legit and the Comédie Française is where all the legit actors perform? It’s because of the government, y’all.
William Doyle, Aristocracy and its Enemies in the Age of Revolution (2009)
Traces the beginning of the decline of nobility and the effects of naming a particular group “the aristocracy”.
He also wrote a very short history called Old Regime France that’s worth a read if you care about 1648-1788 France, back when Lestat’s dad would have been important.
William Doyle’s actually kind of the ultimate first word in French Revolution survey work. He wrote the Oxford History of the French Revolution and he wastes no time with presenting really accessible detailed information that will give you a good feel for the era.
Jeremy Jennings, Revolution and the Republic: A History of Political Thought in France since the Eighteenth Century (2011)
Really huge survey of intellectual history, political theory, sociocultural history, and political economy.
Charles Walton, Policing Public Opinion in the French Revolution: The Culture of Calumny and the Problem of Free Speech (2009)
Really impressive analysis of how censorship during the French Revolution really messes up ancien regime and new republic troubles.
If you don’t have a lot of time, the Very Short Introductions series has great brief reads on aristocracy and the French Revolution.
Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris
Super sassy and gossipy exploration of Paris from the very beginning. Great research but lots of in-jokes about Bourbons and Plantagenets and stuff and not enough teasing of the Carolingians but I’ll deal. Not great for a first-time history read, but good if you have some foundational knowledge of French history. Just a fun book.
Joan DeJean, How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City
I haven’t read this one! But it’s on my reading list.
Baroness Emma Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
A novel! But very good for the feel of an era. Also known as the further adventures of Lestat. Very fast read, guilty pleasure, dashing about France, and it even has mistaken identity comedy!
Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche
Another novel! Basically Nicolas tries to avenge a friend’s murder and fucks up really badly.
Books I haven’t read but mean to:
R.R. Palmer, The Twelve Who Ruled: The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution
Yes, that Robert Roswell Palmer, the guy who wrote the Palmer & Colton European history textbook everybody lugs around in high school. He’s a fantastic and engaging writer with just the right amount of information to make you feel like a native in that time period. I can’t wait to read this book.
I think he wrote a book called Catholics and Unbelievers about the same period.
Simon Schama, Citizens
Apparently really comprehensive from pre-Revolution all the way through Thermidor.
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution
He wrote this huge 4-part history of the world and I hear it’s a great way to contextualize what was happening in France. So, probably use this for figuring out what Nicolas felt about Italy and England, and why Lestat sent Renaud’s troupe to good ‘ol Blighty.
In canon, Louis doesn’t speak a lot in French (sometimes the narrative will indicate the characters have switched to another language but the writing will continue in English for the benefit of the reader). He does throw in a mon dieu! (my god!) here and there. He says it when Lestat first picks him up to show him he has the Cloud Gift in QOTD.
It’s fanon that Louis and Lestat still speak to each other in French, an older version of it that mortals usually aren’t all that familiar with. Lestat still remembers a few old French songs from his childhood.
Louis is actually French, his family moved to New Orleans from France before he took over the plantation from his father: “You see, we lived far better [in Louisiana] than we could have ever lived in France.” – IWTV. So French was most likely his native language.
He gives the interview in English because that’s the language Daniel speaks, and Louis must have learned it at some point, probably in his travels with Armand. But the languages he probably spoke in New Orleans during his ~70 years there were French and Creole, and then when he goes to Paris, he would have spoken the more classic French and he probably had a noticeably Americanized accent, yet another reason for them to dislike him bc TOURISTS.
This is a fun question. I grew to type everything properly in french in my texts so I’m bad at this but here is what I remember or still catch in other people’s texts.
How To (Badly) French Text 101 – The basics
MDR: Mort de rire (Dying of laughter)
SLT: Salut (Hi)
BJR: Bonjour (Hello)
DSL: Désolé(e) (Sorry)
JTM: Je t’aime (I love you)
RPZ: Représente (Represent. It’s some kind of a joke)
OKLM: Au calme (chill)
TKT: T’inquiètes pas (Don’t worry)
DTC: Dans ton cul (in your ass)
VTF: Vas te faire (go fuck yourself)
RAF: Rien à faire/foutre (I don’t care/give a fuck)
SMS: A text/message
And that’s all I could think of
I always loved “plop”, which is a common greeting in French MMOs, basically “salut”. You might enter a battleground on World of Warcraft and see a million people saying “Plop!” “PLOP” in the chat, which sounds ridiculous in English.
I remember asking “Why is everyone saying “plop” and “murder” (MDR)?”
My French friend also taught me some more:
TG: Ta guele (Shut up)
PTN: Putain (F*ck)
STP: S’il te plaît (Please)
Also: BSR: bonsoir (good evening) CAD: c’est-à-dire (that is to say) A+: à plus tard (see you later) EN+: en plus (on top of that)
I didn’t
know some of these, and there’s a lot I don’t use (in fact I only use DSL, DTC,
TG, TG, STP/SVP (s’il vous plait) and @+), but everything is correct, except
for some little mistakes here and there :
“
T’inquiètes pas” ;
“
Vas te faire” (foutre) ; and of course “ta gueule”
I also use :
c for “c’est”
CQFD : ce qu’il fallait démontrer (that which was to be demonstrated)
Qd mm :
quand même (though/still)
And a last
one, not very clever but… meh, I like it : CMB/CTB : comme ma bite/ comme
ta bite (like my dick/ your dick)
I-want-my-IWTV 