Noises and voices

The tenth entry is détoner, and it has a twin that differs by one letter and by nothing at all that an ear can catch. Détoner, with one n, is what a firecracker does: it goes off, and the noun beside it is la détonation. Détonner, with two, is what a singer does who has drifted off the note, and from there what anything does that refuses to fit where it has been put. Ce fauteuil détonne dans le salon says the armchair is out of place, and English has to reach for « to clash » or « to jar », owning no single verb for both. The two are pronounced exactly alike, so only the page keeps them apart, and the spelling runs against instinct in both directions. Tonner, to thunder, has two n and sits in this same list; détoner, its relative through the Latin detonare, has one. Le ton, a musical note, has one n; détonner, built straight on it, has two. The adjectives inherit the split: un mélange détonant is explosive, une couleur détonnante is the wrong colour in the room.