Originally Posted by erooMynohtnA
My first coach taught me the weirdest thing, and it relates to doing a coupe action au fer.

When I learned the coupe, my coach always had me strike the blade while pulling back, so I was basically doing a reverse froissement. For the first four years of my fencing career, I didn't even understand the idea of a coupe as a disengage.
I know, I'm a little late in responding... But real life intrudes sometimes....

This action, started from a non-engagement, is often called a "Flying Parry." ( backwards press or beat which continues into a coupe'). It's not really a coupe' at all, as was pointed out. A coupe' is a simple indirect attack which evades the opponent's blade by moving around the point. The tap on the blade makes the described action a two-tempo action.

This can be a sneaky action, as an opponent (especially less experienced) will often react to the beat/press by moving against it, thereby actually opening the target area for the coupe' to succeed.

This is distinctly NOT a froissement (expulsion), which moves DOWN the blade with pressure to force the opponent's point out of line. An expulsion is distinct from a press, in that it moves towards the hilt while pressing and uses leverage to force opponent's blade off-line.