pour encourager les autres

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French pour encourager les autres (literally “in order to encourage the others”), as used in Voltaire’s Candide (1759) in reference to the execution of Admiral John Byng.

Pronunciation

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Phrase

pour encourager les autres

1. (ironic) In order to warn or intimidate others (especially by making an example of someone or something).
   • 1927 June, U. P. A., “L’Oiseau rouge”, in Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, volume 48, number 6, page 464:

     Whenever trouble threatened, Avitabile hanged a few of the citizens from the walls of Government House pour encourager les autres; and when trouble did occur, he doubled the hangings and had a daily roster for suspension with a next-for-the-noose column.

   • 2016 March 1, Nicholas Wright, “Can Britain's bureaucracy handle a Brexit?”, in The Guardian:

     Indeed, some may wish to make withdrawal as painful as possible pour encourager les autres.

   • 2023 July 1, Catherine Lough, “Genghis Khan ‘a Blairite before his time’”, in The Daily Telegraph:

     He added jokingly: “So very inclusive, in fact, there were a couple of places where everybody was murdered and butchered, pour encourager les autres.”

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:pour encourager les autres.

References

• “pour encourager les autres”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “pour encourager les autres, phr.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.