Talk:Bête noire

Redirect and Google

I am not sure how this works, but if you type "define: bete noir" into Google, you get the definition of "bete noirE" on Wikipedia. That means that somehow Google is attributing a misspelled word to Wikipedia. My guess is that this has something to do with the redirect, but I am not sure. It might also have to do with the URL of this page. It is just odd that Wikipedia has it right but is cited by Google as having it wrong. Link to Google Results: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=gmail&q=define%3A%20bete%20noir. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mlhwitz (talk • contribs) 15:33, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

These things correct themselves, as a Google search is a search not of the net, but of their archive of the net. Their archive is periodically updated, so when the wiki-glitch is fixed, there will be a period in which Google still shows the error—a lagtime. Once a webcrawler finds the spot again and re-archives, the error is corrected. Usually no human intervention is required or desired. rags (talk) 17:08, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

It is a French term, therefore there are masculine and feminine spellings: Noir = masculine, noire = feminine. The only example in English I can think of is “Blond” and “Blonde”. 81.100.212.121 (talk) 01:35, 3 February 2023 (UTC)

For someone else to decide...

This is an exact duplicate of the content at http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2002/05/30.html Is that cool? I don't think so. Especially since the dictionary.com reference is a few years older. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.64.0.252 (talk) 15:53, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Merge

I merged the content of Bete noir into this article. The former originally stated:

In common usage, we could probably expand this to "the object of most aversion" as it tends to be used singularly, stressing the extent of the dislike or aversion. In this sense it can be seen as a one-way, impersonal Nemesis, the object of these feelings being unaware (or incapable of being aware) of the relationship.

I haven't merged this content, as I don't think it is correct — it is dubious to assert that in the common usage, the object of the phrase is unaware of being detested. Neilc 05:24, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Move?

Shouldn't this be in the Wikidictionary instead? Venice 14:28, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

yes Lethe | Talk

The transfer to Wikidictionary was not done, but the Talk page doesn't say why. Why? Thank you, Wordreader (talk) 06:13, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

Dictionary stuff and quote.

Wikipedia is not a dictionary, not a quote repostiory. The stuff I removed is now below:

Bête noire is a phrase assimilated from the French, literally meaning "black beast." It refers to someone or something which is particularly disliked or avoided; an object of aversion, the bane of one's existence.

"By an application of the theory of relativity to the taste of readers, to-day in Germany I am called a German man of science, and in England I am represented as a Swiss Jew. If I come to be regarded as a bête noire the descriptions will be reversed, and I shall become a Swiss Jew for the Germans and a German man of science for the English!" —Albert Einstein (1879–1955), from the article "Einstein on His Theory" (The Times, London, 28 November 1919)

--Commander Keane 16:40, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

Small change.

the page says:

"Bête Noire, an season 1 episode of the police procedural drama NCIS."

Changed "an" to "a". Yours, Wordreader (talk) 06:16, 26 August 2016 (UTC)