faux naIf

[nimsooze]

what this phrase means:
It is a faux naif question
i think that this italic part is in french but why the writer uses it while writing in english?is there any specific reason?it's ethymology?

[BobK]

Originally Posted by nimsooze

what this phrase means:
It is a faux naif question
i think that this italic part is in french but why the writer uses it while writing in english?is there any specific reason?it's ethymology?

You're right in thinking that it's originally French; the writer was too clever for his own good! Lots of French words have been borrowed directly into English; my habit of keeping generations of old dictionaries (much to my wife's chagrin [there's one]) lets me chart the slow Anglicization of, for example 'rôle' by way of 'rôle' to 'role'. Like 'role' (a part in a play), the most successful borrowings lose their italics over time; faux naïf, because of its limited use, has always kept its italics.

The phrase faux naïf refers to a person - a man or boy (it's male) who pretends to be more innocent than he really is. The phrase is used in literary contexts, and maybe in glossy magazines given away with serious newspapers at weekends. It's rather pretentious.

I've never known it used to refer to an inanimate - still less an abstract - noun like 'question' (which in any case is feminine!)

b

[queenbu]

faux-naif:Marked by a false show of innocent simplicity: "Their gee-whiz, faux-naif comportment is not always convincing" Madison Smartt Bell.

I think here it's used in the same way, no?

[nimsooze]

then?

[queenbu]

Then what? The question was marked by a false show of innocent simplicity.

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by nimsooze

then?

Click here: faux-naif - definition of faux-naif by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

[nimsooze]

Does it mean that the one who asks [I]faux-naif [I] question , know the answer even before asking?

[Casiopea]

A faux naif questions is an absurdly simple question.

[queenbu]

faux in french means false
naif means innocent,ingenuous
It should be seen in the context but that sort of question is usually made to feel the other feel embarassed, uneasy or to hide the fact that he already knows about the situation or to see the other person's point of view. Yes, probably the one who asks already knows the answer.

For example, something happens at work and you know all about it. A colleague comes up to you and says 'Have you heard what happened?' and you say,'No. Why? What happened?' to hear your colleague's version.

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by nimsooze

Does it mean that the one who asks [I]faux-naif [/I] question[s], know[s] the answer even before asking?

Yes and no. There might not be an answer. The questioner is pretending to be naïve. It's synonymous with disingenuous in this sense, pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated; faux-naïf.