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.