That’s a word you will hear in France on a daily basis, but it is advised to use with caution. It applies to anyone you don’t like, wether dumb or nasty. English equivalents would be a jerk, an idiot, a prick, a dick, a schmuck. As an adjective, it means dumb, stupid.
It has quite a few derivates, like connard ‘(masc) or connasse (fem). « Connerie » is a substantive for being « con », meaning dumbness, or bullshit, nonsense. « Déconner » is a verb meaning acting in a « con » way (messing around, joking, kidding). Something can be « à la con », and Ducon is a sarcastic and offensive form of address.
Originally, the word meant « vagina », and it was its basic meaning for centuries. The eymology is ancient, as it derivates from latin « cunnus », and it is a cognate to the Spanish « coño » and the English « cunt ». It used to be a very coarse slang word used by the lowlife. In 1928, communist writer Louis Aragon wrote an erotic novel called « le con d’Irene », lit. « Irene’s cunt », but it was never published under that title for 40 years.
During the interwar period, the meaning shifted to express someone stupid. A first famous occurence was the Munich conference in 1938 which traded Czechoslovakia to Hitler in an attempt to avoid war. As he was acclaimed by the crowd on his return, minister Daladier is supposed to have muttered « Les cons! ». The slogan « Mort aux cons » (Death to cons) was used in the military, and De Gaulle was quoted to call it a « vaste programme » (a vast task).
From the 1950’s on, the word became ubiquitous in popular culture. In film, a famous quote is found in a crime comedy called « les Tontons flingueurs » (Crooks in clover). « Les cons ça ose tout,c’est même à ça qu’on les reconnait » : jerks will dare anything, that’s even how you recognize them. Singer Georges Brassens wrote a famous ballad, stating that if you’re « con », time doesn’t help.
The song was used as the soundtrack of a comedy cult classic, “the Dinner Game”. In some Parisian circles during the 1970’s, « dîner de cons » were organized. The idea was to gather a group of friends and invide someone particularly « con » to make fun of him, and that nasty tradition has inspired the plot. The « con » in the movie is a naive, clumsy baby faced civil servant called François Pignon.
Although it is totally inappropriate in formal contexts, President Sarkozy broke the rule. He lost his nerves and told a hostile bypasser « Casse toi pauvre con » (get lost poor jerk), which didn’t help his popularity.
In Southern France, the word is used as a colloquial and masculine term of endearment, typically dropped at the end of every sentence, with the Southern pronunciation « cong ».
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