The second in my new series, faux amis (false cognates), or words that may trip you up if you're an anglophone in France (or a francophone in the U.S., why not).
The first time I saw "CAROTTES RAPEES" in the grocery store, I was quite bemused at the idea of raped carrots.
Râper actually means to grate/shred. For those of you etymology enthusiasts: Generally, the little carrot (accent grave) above a vowel means there used to be an "s" after it, like hôpital, or fête (think "feast" or "festival"). So râper is related to rasp, which originated from the Old French rasper. But the little carrot (and other accents) sometimes gets dropped, especially when a word's capitalized, so "râpé" might become "RAPE" on a sign/label, which offends the sensibilities on two levels, being both a false cognate and in a rather aggressive typeface, wouldn't you agree?
Rape is actually le viol in French (verb form: violer), so purple man and raped man would sound the same in French. I like to imagine that there are situations in which this has caused confusion.
French word:
râper
English equivalent:
to grate, to shred
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