"Toujours pur" - Black family motto?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 113947

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> 
> Kizor wrote :
> "the Black family tree features the words 'Toujours pur'. What on
> Earth does that mean? "
> 
> Geoff answered :
> "Hmmm. Babelfish obviously needs his aquarium cleaned out.
>  
> It's "always pure" (or unsullied or clean etc. etc.)"
> 
> Del comments :
> I don't know that Babelfish, but it must be quite sick if it can't
> translate something that simple...


Geoff:
Babelfish is a reasonably well-known computer translation program; it 
is however known for its tendency to translate literally and miss the 
nuances and idioms sometimes involved.


Del:
> Another question : why is the motto stated in French to start with ?
> Black is not, even remotely, a French name, so why use French ?
> 
> Del, a French woman who was surprised to read French words, and even
> more surprised that they weren't translated. Understanding what the
> schoolkids looking for Madame Maxime during the QWC said wasn't
> important to the plot, but understanding the Black motto is indeed
> important to understand that family's ideology.

Geoff:
If I may expand on one or two of the replies which followed your 
post: in the real world, many UK aristocratic families are descended 
from the Normans who came with William of Normandy in 1066 and so 
many family mottos are in French or old Norman French and, of course, 
many mottos are also in Latin - for example, "Draco dormiens nunquam 
titillandus" :-)

Geoff
Enjoy Exmoor and the 
heritage West Somerset Railway at:
http://www.aspectsofexmoor.com