French Slang Saturdays: Poche

Poche [adj]: Something or someone that sucks. Can also be another term for "lame", but is stronger than plate. The word literally means "pocket", but I have no idea where the slang usage comes from.

French Slang Sunday: Char

Char [n]: Short for "chariot", literally: carriage, wagon or truck. Used in France to describe a tank or chariot. In Quebec the shortened form is a slang term for car.

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...

French Slang Saturday: Niais, Niaiser, Niaiserie, Niaiseux

Sorry this didn't get posted yesterday. I'd done a really good job of editing it too, except iMovie crashed and my files were locked in trash-limbo and then Alain and his computer skills had to save them, but I still couldn't edit anything, so we had to import it all into Final Cut...

But it's done. So here you go:

This one's a four parter, all four words having a common root.

niais[e] [n]: Originally it was used to describe a bird that had not yet left the nest, but it is now used to describe someone who is naive or thick.

niaiser [v]: To joke, annoy or lie. To behave like an ass.

niaiserie [n]: Something not to be taken seriously. Something frivolous or silly.

niaiseux [n]: One who is obnoxious or undesirable. A simpleton or ass. Commonly used as an insult.

French Slang... Tuesday? : Hockey Edition

In this episode, which is dedicated to the Habs, we go over some classic hockey terminology.



Also, for the record we had nothing to do with the riot last night. People are stupid.

French Slang Saturdays: Joual

Hey kids,

No video this week as L. and I are in the Saguenay visiting L's family.

However, I figured I'd throw up a few links about joual [n] [prounouced: zwahl], the working class dialect of Quebecois French. The word itself comes from the French word for horse, cheval as in pronouncing it in one syllable. It is also important to note that because joual is chiefly a spoken dialect, spelling variations for joual words are common.

From the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Joual Vert - The unofficial dictionary of Quebecois French.

A CBC files about Michel Tremblay and his landmark play Les Belles-soeurs, which was the first internationally recognized play written in joual.

French Slang Saturdays: Tanner & Tannant

Sorry it's a day late, but it's a two for one to make up for the tardiness.

Tanner [v]: Annoyed, fed-up. Implies a certain amount of resignment of the part of the speaker. Conjugated in the usual fashion.

Tannant [adj]: To be annoying.

French Slang Saturdays: Ben

Today's slang word is a good multi-purpose word and adopting it's usage is one of the fastest ways to sound like a native Quebequer.

Ben [adj]: Literally: very. Can be used literally, at the beginning of a sentence or as a pause the same way as "well..." or to add emphasis.

This one might take longer to load because it is a bit longer than the previous videos, but that's because there are so many ways to use the word. I've also upped the production values a bit with the introduction of titles and transitions (oooh, impresive!)

French Slang Saturdays: Capoter

Capoter [v]: Literally it means capsize, but in slang usage it means "to freak out". Can be used positively or negatively, to express elation or frustration. Conjugated in the usual fashion.

French Slang Saturdays: Plate

While my first post about Quebecois slang was neatly arranged around a single theme, I've found myself struggling with a good way to post about all the other Quebecois slang I've been absorbing that would a) make sense and b) not be insanely long. So, in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone I've opted to post one slang word per week. And I'm including video of me saying the word!

If there are words that you would like explore in a future post, please let me know in the comments, or send me an email.

This week's word:

Plate [adj]: Lame. Literally means "flat", but is used to describe anything boring or just generally sucky and undesirable.

Quebequois Slang Part 1: Cursing

NSFW or children

Admittedly, having completed a large portion of my schooling as part of the French Immersion program (pre-school to first year university) has been a huge asset to me these past three months. I would also have to say that my accent and confidence have improved tremendously in the short time we have been here, and my ability to speak and understand French has made my life infinitely easier in every way, from finding a job to shopping for groceries.

However, because school is supposed to teach you how to do things properly, there were a number of essential words and terms that I had to pick up on the fly. I am referring of course to slang, and the Quebequois of course have their own very specific and unique terms for all kinds of things. In lieu of just listing every bit of seeming gibberish I've picked up since October, I've opted to split the topic into several posts, beginning with the most fun: swearing!

I had an interesting bar conversation with someone not too long ago about swearing, and specifically how a culture's curse words actually reveal a lot about the particular hang-ups of that culture. For example, in English, most curses have to do with sex or bodily functions (ex: Fuck, Shit...); while in Polish a lot of curses have to do with disease and illness, a hold over from the plague days. In war ravaged areas of Eastern Europe the curses are generally very convoluted and violent (an example along the lines of "skull fuck your mother through the eye with a dog penis" comes to mind). So, it should come as no surprise that the majority of Quebequois curses have to do with the Catholic church, specifically: deliberately mispronouncing the words for sacred things.

Below are some of the most popular Quebequois swear words along with explanations and examples of their use. Please note that some of these words have multiple spellings as the issue has more to do with the pronunciation.

Tabarnak: [tah-behr-nak] This one is a play on tabernacle (same in English & French) and is probably the grand-daddy of Quebequois curses. The usage is similar to that of "Fuck" in English, although it probably isn't quite as harsh. Variants include "tabarwhet" and "tabarmoush", which are basically the same as saying "fudge" or "fiddlesticks".

Ostie: [uh-stee] A play on ossuarie or ossuary. Generally used in the declarative, or as a preposition: "Ostie,que t'est con!" Not as bad as tabarnak, it can also be shortened to "'sti" as one would shorten "Goddamn" to "damn".

Calisse: [koh-lee-ss] This one comes from calice or chalice. One of my current favourites. It is very fun to say and immediately gets across how you feel.

This of course is just a sample, I do plan on posting lots more in the future as well as some less offensive slang. While not extensive, these words are more than enough to get you started, and you can of course combine them in a host of ways to come up with new curses as demonstrated by Tom Green in the clip below: