Saturday, May 03, 2008

French Slang Saturdays: Écoeurant

Écoeurant [adj]: Another word that has different meanings in France and in Quebec. "Coeur" is the word for "heart" and "avoir mal au coeur" means "heartburn" or the pain you get before vomiting, so écoeurant in France is used to describe something disgusting or that induces vomiting.

In Quebec it can be bad or good, used in an exaggerated,almost ironic fashion: "so good that I almost puked..." Most often it is used in the same way "awesome" is used in English. When speaking, the "é" is sometimes dropped, giving you "'coeurant".

Like a lot of slang words in Quebec, variations can used as a verb or a noun. Ex: mon écoeurant, écoeurer, etc...

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