Coup de grâce

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The expression coup de grâce (French: "blow of mercy") means a death blow intended to end the suffering of a wounded creature. It is often used figuratively to describe the last of a series of events which brings about the end of some entity; for example: "The business had been ailing for years; the coup de grâce which brought it to its knees was the sudden jump in oil prices."

In war times, it means shooting into the cordiac or neck zone of an already shot (executed), but not yet fully dead person shot during a military or civilian execution.

The French pronunciation of the phrase is [ku də gras], but English speakers sometimes pronounce it as [ku də ɡɹa]. Not pronouncing the final "c" is an example of a hyperforeignism: in French, this is the pronunciation of coup de gras ("blow of fat").

[edit] Coup de grâce in popular culture

  • James Bond in The Man with the Golden Gun is asked by Goodnight, after killing Scaramanga, "Where is Scaramanga?", his double-entendre reply is "He's flat on his Coup de grâce".
  • In the British film Layer Cake Eddie Temple says to Mr. XXX that the communists who took over the country, where Jimmy Price invested £13 million, gave the government a coup de grace for power of the country.
  • Uma Thurman, in Kill Bill, Vol. 2, during a discussion with Bill, mentions his performing a coup de grâce on her by shooting her in the head, but uses the incorrect pronunciation of "coup de gras".
  • Mentioned as "coo de grass" in Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange. When Alex is in Jail, he murders a large inmate and mentions a final kick to the ribs as the "coo de grass".
  • Is the title of an album made by The Stranglers which was released in 1998
  • Is the title of an album made by UK Stoner/Doom band Orange Goblin which was released in 2002.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, when Link defeats some Deku Scrubs inside the Great Deku Tree basement, they mention the coup de grâce to destroy the Queen.
  • In the Naruto Manga, when Shikamaru is fighting Kin and is wounded by her needles, she takes more out while uttering coup de grâce.
  • In Final Fantasy XII Lady Ashe mentions the nethicite as being the coup de grâce of the war.
  • The Country Band "Cooder Graw" used the name "Coup de gras" until they received notice that another band was using that name. They used a "redneck sounding" alternative and became "Cooder Graw".
  • In the role playing game Dungeons and Dragons, an attack made on a helpless creature, where the attacker gets an automatic critical hit with a chance to instantly kill the enemy.
  • In Unreal Championship 2 characters can be finished of with a coup de grâce for extra points.
  • In Defense of the Ancients Mortred the phantom assassin's ultimate skill is Coup de grace wich gives the Mortred a 15% chance to deal a critical hit of 4x damage.

[edit] See also

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