Larousse has a couple other definitions for afficher: to post; to have on the bill; or to display (computer). This definition is to display or flaunt and is marked as pejorative. In this context, it sounds like a slam that she always has a joyous smile (because of the use of afficher).
Does this make sense to those of you that are familiar with the use of this word? Thanks in advance.
I guess context can change things significantly here…
Simply reading the French sentence in isolation, I see it as a neutral statement, close to the “to display” meaning. In fact, “afficher” could be replaced by “avoir” here.
That said, afficher can definitely have a negative connotation:
Elle affiche toujours un sourire narquois.
We only changed one word, but that’s enough to make it a pejorative statement.
“Afficher sa fortune”, given by Larousse is another example, and it reminded me of the discussion we had here: Elle faisait étalage de ses talents.
In this case, afficher really means étaler/faire étalage de (sa fortune), and when used this way, it also has a negative connotation.
I mean, yeah you only changed one word and made the sentence negative, but that it because the word you used is negative in itself. It like if you changed the english sentence from:
She always shows her happy face
to
She always shows her evil face
And said that it is because the verb “show” is negative…
I agree that afficher can have a more negative connotation, but that example is maybe not the most well-suited to show it.
In my opinion, “Elle affiche toujours un sourire joyeux.”, has a more negative connotation that simply “Elle a toujours un sourire joyeux.” in that, in seems to imply that her showing of that simply is simply a facade (maybe she is actually sad or angry, but is always showing that smile not to let others know).
I have looked around a bit, and have not found anything to back up my impression; so maybe it is just to me, and afficher is just neutral (like “to show”)
Your example pretty much sums up how I feel about “afficher”, but that last part (in bold) is definitely not the point I was trying to make.
Clearly I didn’t do a very good job getting my point accross.
I will try to clarify below, while answering the rest of your post.
Some sources define connotation as “implied meaning”, what the word implies or “suggests”.
So a word like “aroma” for instance has a positive connotation, i.e. that of a pleasant smell.
Similarly, if you take a word like “stench”, you are unlikely to hear someone say:
“Oh gee, what a lovely stench!”
So some words do have an implied meaning or connotation “built-in”.
I don’t think that applies to the word “afficher”.
What I had in mind when I used the word connotation was closer to the definition given here:
To me, in isolation, “afficher” is neutral, and any connotation, good or bad, is acquired from the context/situation or the words it is used with.
Right, I think that’s where we disagree. You seem to think that “afficher” does have the implied meaning of “pretending/facade” “built-in”, I don’t.
This is interesting…
Yes, maybe she is angry, maybe she smiles at people she’s mad at or people she actually hates… Maybe she is evil and manipulative.
Or, maybe she is a kind soul, always looking on the bright side no matter what.
Yes, maybe she is sad and maybe she’s trying to hide it, but even then…
Imagine a situation in which maybe someone died or something really terrible happened anyway. You could say something like:
Malgré son immense tristesse, elle regarda sa petite soeur en s’efforçant d’afficher un sourire réconfortant.
and you would be describing a person who means well.
In short, with a word like afficher, I think connotation is purely contextual/situational.
With no extra context/info, I consider the French translation to be neutral, just like I feel the English sentence is.
I see. It seems that I misunderstood your original comment. To me afficher had a negative connotation, in that it concealed the true intentions of the described action/trait/thing. But from what I could gather around, it does not seem to be the case in general, and it would rather be, as you said, a neutral verb
This exchange reminded me of something renowned psychiatrist, Frasier Crane, once said:
“I meant burden in its most positive sense!”
Maybe instead of using the word connotation, it would have been clearer if I had said that “afficher” could be used both in a positive or a negative sense.