freudian term

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How do you say 'acte manqué' in English?
Acte manqué is a French expression. It is the equivalent of 'Freudian slip' in the field of action (as opposed to that of words). In other words, it is a non-verbal mistake a person's unconscious imposes on them. Something they do unconsciously deliberately. For instance, you don't want to go to a concert and you forget to take your tickets when you go theres.
 
    • I don't think we have a specific term for this! One is undoubtedly needed, as this kind of passive-aggressive or self-defeating behavior is pretty common.

    Using your example of the tickets, if I were writing a "Lady Windermere's fan" scene where a non-verbal lapse had to be briefly described-- I might say someone "accidentally" left the tickets behind.

    This example of typically-AE irony is conveyed in the spoken language by familiar quote-mark gestures, and possibly a roll of the eyes depending on how subtly or broadly you want to play it.

    You know, the fact that I had to use the term "non-verbal lapse" makes me wonder the connection between "Freudian slip" and "slip of the tongue" is all that inviolable. Couldn't you call an acte manqué a Freudian slip? In AE to slip or slip up means simply to commit a small error or omission. A slip in general can be an action-- why does a Freudian slip have to be verbal?

    How about a Freudian slip-up?
    .
     
    OK, now that FFB has said it first, I don't see why I wouldn't talk about this kind of lapse (I do it all the time) a Freudian slip. Is there anything in the background that insists the Freudian label has to be attached to a speech lapse?
    a slip-up that (according to Sigmund Freud) results from the operation of unconscious wishes or conflicts and can reveal unconscious processes in normal healthy individuals:
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    WR Dictionary.

    Freudian slip, an unintentional mistake that seems to reveal a subconscious intention.
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    OED

    The Freudian slip is an error in human action, speech or memory that is believed to be caused by the subconscious mind. The error often appears to the observer as being casual, bizarre or nonsensical, but has some deeper significance.
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    Wiki
     
    I thought that slips were only verbal. Apparently the term covers actions. My apologies!
     
    Depending on the context, we could use the ironic "conveniently."

    He never really wanted to go to the concert, so when he went, he conveniently forgot the tickets.
     
    Hello,

    A search for "acte manqué" lead me to this thread - and also to this one in French-English, where the word parapraxis was suggested.
    I thought it could be interesting here :)

    Gil said:
    par·a·prax·is Listen: [ pr-prkss ]
    n. pl. par·a·prax·es [ -prksz ]

    A minor error, such as a slip of the tongue, thought to reveal a repressed motive.
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    Aupick said:
    Parapraxis :thumbsup: . This is the 'official' translation for an 'acte manqué', approved by Freud himself, who is after all the 'father' of such slips. At the very least I it should be 'slip' (not 'failed attempt'). 'Innocent mistake' seems to work, but the whole point of an acte manqué is that it's not innocent.
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    I have seen "an unconsciously deliberate mistake", i.e. when you fail to do something and regret that you did not do it (on a conscious level), but in fact wanted to fail and not do it (on an unconscious level). "Parapraxis" is rather more synthetic, however!

    An "acte manqué" is not to be confused with "a Freudian slip" ("un lapsus" in French), when you say something that you did not intend to say - consciously, you did not want to say it, but your unconscious took over and you blurted it out.

    Freudian slip is about saying something you did not want to say; acte manqué is about not doing something you wanted to do.
     
    James Brandon said:
    acte manqué is about not doing something you wanted to do.
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    Isn't it rather, not doing something you didn't want to do but didn't know or wouldn't admit that you didn't want to do?

    For instance, the reason I searched this word is that someone asked me if my arriving at the swimming-pool late hence not being able to swim very long, could have been an acte manqué; which meant, did I in fact not really want to go?
     
    On second thought, this might be yet another thing... Acte manqué in French simply means something that you failed to do. Freud's contribution was to demonstrate that you didn't fail by accident - there was a subconscious reason behind it. In the other thread they explain that failing to do something might reveal that in fact you wanted to do something else.

    Is parapraxis commonly used in English?
     
    James Brandon said:
    [...] Freudian slip is about saying something you did not want to say; acte manqué is about not doing something you wanted to do.
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    The OED definition for freudian slip (listed above) explicitly includes action, but of course it is possible that more erudite sources might confine them to speech.
    geve said:
    [...] Is parapraxis commonly used in English?
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    Is what?
    I used to have a parapraxis but the wheel fell off one of them so they are stuck in the shed.
    Alternatively:
    No, parapraxis is not a commonly used word in English.
    Freudian slip, on the other hand, is used by many more people than would seriously have studied psychology.
    KaRiNe_Fr said:
    So, how would say the man down the street?
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    The man in the street thinks that freudian slips can be bought from Ann Summers, possibly only by mail order.
     
    The closest I can think of is doing something "accidentally on purpose" (which is a set phrase).

    He left the tickets at home accidentally on purpose.

    This does suggest some degree of deliberateness, though, so I'm not sure it's perfect.

    Another way of expressing it is with mock surprise - "quelle surprise".

    We got to the theatre and, quelle surprise, he had left the tickets on the table at home.
     
    Panj's answer re "parapraxis" is very apt-- I myself laughed out loud when I saw it. (the first mention of the word, as well as his comment about it)

    In AE the man in the street is very aware of freudian slips, and we pun about them too-- "your freudian slip is showing."

    A freudian slip is a kind of dead giveaway, meaning a clue that "gives away" something you're trying to hide. If you used "freudian slip" for a non-verbal paramahoozits, no one would object to the term.

    In other words I don't think they have to be verbal-- especially now that I know the OED says so explicitly.
    .
     
    Alright then! I thought parapraxis sounded a bit like the name of the disease... So it's just that Aupick is overeducated eh? ;)
     
    "Acte manqué" cannot be understood without referring to categories relating to psycho-analysis and Freud's writings - it is a mismatch between what one wants to do, consciously, and one ends up doing, due to unconscious factors. (In Freud, "ego" Vs "id".)

    I know this Thread is English only, but, if I use the copy of the Robert-Collins English-French dictionary that I have at home, it says:-

    Acte manqué - Subconsciously deliberate mistake. [I said 'unconsciously'; funnily enough, Freud's standard translation never uses 'subconsciously' but only 'unconsciously'.]

    I had never heard of "parapraxis", and the term is not used in Freud's writings, to my knowledge.

    Lapsus [Latin term used in French] - Spoken, slip of the tongue; - Written, slip of the pen; - 'Revealing', Freudian slip.

    So, it is clear that a Freudian slip is about something somebody expresses (when speaking or when writing); by extension, it could be incorporated in an action, but, from what I know and have come across, this is not the idea - the idea is that it is verbal and, perhaps, written. It is about a message.
     
    Thanks James. But I'm still lost... You seem not to be the average-man-in-the-street I'm seeking. ;)
    Let me sum up what I think I understood:
    Freudian slip is "normally" used only for slip of the tongue (spoken and even written), but, can also be used by extension for actions too. In this case it will be overused. Right?
    Parapraxis is excluded as nobody except some specialists knows the term.
    Finally, how would you say that, to be as close as possible to the French meaning in a common conversation?
    I find Tim proposal using "accidentally on purpose" close enough and easy-minded (it's not my first criteria, but it helps!). :)
     
    KaRiNe_Fr said:
    I find Tim proposal using "accidentally on purpose" close enough and easy-minded (it's not my first criteria, but it helps!). :)
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    But it could imply that it was deliberate, when an acte manqué is not...
    What about using a periphrasis (since there doesn't seem to be a single expression that everyone would understand), with "revealing" for instance?
    Or, "a Freudian accident"? :rolleyes: Or something like that: What? You lost your keys to your office again? That's like the 12th time this month. What do you think Freud would say? or Should I call Dr Freud and book an appointment for you?
     
    geve said:
    But it could imply that it was deliberate, when an acte manqué is not...
    What about using a periphrasis (since there doesn't seem to be a single expression that everyone would understand), with "revealing" for instance?
    Or, "a Freudian accident"? :rolleyes: Or something like that: What? You lost your keys to your office again? That's like the 12th time this month. What do you think Freud would say? or Should I call Dr Freud and book an appointment for you?
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    Yes, I must admit that doing something "acidentally on purpose" is really "doing it on purpose then pretending you didn't".
     
    Once more, do not confuse slip of the tongue (lapsus linguae) or slip of the pen (lapsus calami) on the one hand; acte manqué, on the other. For acte manqué, I would use what Robert-Collins Dictionary suggests if you are seeking a noun/phrase, i.e. "a subconsciously deliberate mistake". [It is not merely deliberate - the acte manqué is subconsciously deliberate, or else it loses all meaning.]

    If the use of the phrase/concept is in context and you don't need a noun, let us know and we can try to find another round-about phrase, or, should I say, periphrasis...
     
    James Brandon said:
    Once more, do not confuse slip of the tongue (lapsus linguae) or slip of the pen (lapsus calami) on the one hand; acte manqué, on the other.
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    But a lapsus linguae is not the same as a Freudian slip. It can be a simple slip of the tongue, a verbal error, a spoonerism, a malapropism-- no sub- or unconscious meaning.

    We don't say "Freudian slip of the tongue," right? Usage has created a precedent for this meaning, but what do you make of the fact that the OED makes a point of including non-verbal "subconscious errors" in the term Freudian slip?
    .
     
    I agree that an ordinary 'slip of the tongue' is not credited with any subconscious meaning in everyday life - in other words, it is simply a case of someone saying something that is not quite what they meant to say. If you go back to the 3 options I gave, working back from French since this was the information at my disposal, an ordinary 'lapsus' is a 'slip'; 'un lapsus révélateur', in French, is 'a Freudian slip'.

    Then again, the expression has been used for so long and in ordinary contexts, it is obvious it has nothing psycho-analytical about it. I would make 2 points, however.

    1 In actual fact, seemingly inocuous slips of the tongue are very often revealing of an unconscious motive, i.e. the difference between what is said and what is meant. This is my personal view and that has nothing to do with the use of the expression in everyday life, granted.

    2 Acte manqué is rather more specifically psycho-analytical in scope and meaning, in my opinion - the deconstruction of an acte manqué cannot be understood without reference to the basics of psychology, and in fact without referring to the role of the unconscious.
     
    I think there are two cross-purpose things going on here. One, is there an English synonym for acte manqué. I'm not sure there is, and I haven't heard any that work for me.

    The other question is, what do we call the thing that the French call an acte manqué?

    I think we tend to call any "unintentional" errors or lapses that reveal what we ordinarily try to conceal-- freudian slips. The term works for verbal slips as well as physical actions or omissions.

    A separate issue is the deliberate mistake, and I think that's influencing the thinking in this thread. Your girlfriend "accidentally" leaves one of her earrings in your bedsheets, for your wife to find. Uh...I guess Lady Windermeer's fan would've been a classier example, but I'm too lazy to google her name for the correct spelling.

    Yeah sure, some of you are saying-- and just how did he find out about my girlfriend?
    .
     
    In English, "lapse" (which comes from Latin "lapsus") could be used in any situation, I suppose; "slip" (and it is, really, "slip of the tongue") would refer to something verbal.

    As for the translation of "acte manqué", it does seem a case of either going for a round-about phrase (usually a reflection of the fact that there is not any direct translation) or a technical term (as suggested by one contributor) that is not understood by most. "Acte manqué", in French, is used very commonly, however. So, I understand you would be looking for everyday-life expressions that might capture that. But they are most probably going to be a bit too vague to capture the implied meaning of "acte manqué", which is undoubtedly psycho-analytical.

    PS The issue of how intentional the action is: Acte manqué has nothing to do with a situation where somebody does something deliberately so that someone else finds out about something, etc. This is ordinary scheming in everyday-life situations. Acte manqué is about a failure to act being deliberate on an unconscious level (unconsciously, the person wanted to fail); in other words, the person was also trying hard to do that very thing and was deliberate in his or her attempt (consciously, the person did not want to fail) - both the acting and the failure to act are deliberate. In that tussle, the unconscious takes over and makes you fail at the 11th hour. The whole way that dreams work and that neurosis manifests itself in people is an extrapolation of this mechanism...
     
    But a slip in AE isn't always only verbal. It can mean to slip up as well as to stumble physically. This is especially true of errors of omission.

    "Oh no! D'you remember when I took the rings out to show them around at the bachelor party? I think I left them at the gentleman's club."

    "That was no accidental slip! You always were against me getting married to Gladys."

    "Oh here they are-- I wrapped em up in my snot rag to make sure they didn't fall out of my pocket. My bad."

    "Never mind that-- I'm starting to have second thoughts about Gladys too."
    .
     
    You could use it for that in an informal context, I would have thought. But it remains slightly ambiguous - if it was no accidental slip, then it must be deliberate, and the expression does not tell you that it (the error) was deliberate on an unconscious level (acte manqué), as opposed to merely intentional on a conscious level (which is what the reader may assume, i.e. that the error was in fact a ploy)... But perhaps we are splitting hairs, here, deliberately or not.:D
     
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