Another French know-it-all

Mrs. Gladys Manigold, an English teacher at Rydell High School in Turlock, California writes:

Dear Grammer Genious,


How does one pronounce "coup de grace" when speaking English? Is it "koop de grayce", or "koo de grahs"? I'm having an argument with Mademoiselle Lefevre, the French teacher.


Yours,
Gladys Manigold, MA

Dear Mrs. Manigold,

Neither of those is correct. When pronouncing French, only the first three letters of any word are taken into consideration. After that, you just don't pronounce any more of them. So the correct pronunciation is "koo de grah."

Just our of curiosity, I would like to know why you would give any regard at all to some high school French teacher's opinion about anything.

The Grammer Genious