John Price
Gang Gang
- Sep 19, 2008
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- 30,539
Here are some of the expressions and slang words unique to the Québec French. The examples below range from being weird to straight-up funny, even to a non-French speaker.
- Mon chum. This means “my friend” among French speaking Canadians and it is also a clear example of an Anglicism-“chum” is actually an English idiom. What makes this expression sort of confusing, even for French Canadian speakers, is that “chum” can also mean boyfriend, so it has the potential to create awkward situations between the sexes.
- Ma blonde. Similar, in some ways to the previous example, this expression means “my girlfriend” for a Québec French speaker, whereas it will literally mean “my blonde” to a Metropolitan French speaker, which will not make much sense.
- Baise-moué l’ail. Literally means “kiss my garlic.” Clearly, this is a derivative of an English expression that asks you to kiss a certain part of the human anatomy. As to why the French speaking Canadians chose to use garlic instead of an area located between your back and your thighs is still unclear.
- Avoir mal aux cheveux. It roughly translates to “have a hair ache.” It is an expression used to describe an intense headache. One can only assume that it came from the fact that the headache is so severe that it even made the hair feel the pain.
- Être tiguidou. Everything is just dandy. No problem here! A-Ok! (I love this expression and wish we can have here in France).
- Bonjour-Hi. Pretty much self-explanatory, this frequently used greeting is yet another example of Anglicism in Québec French. This should be understandable; this is often used by someone who is offering assistance such as a salesperson or a government employee, which is their way of saying that “I can render service to you in French or English”. However, the Parti Québécois has been clamping down on this greeting recently (source: here), we will how it goes.
- Se laisser manger la laine sur le dos.Meaning, to “let someone eat the wool off your back” means that you are letting someone make a fool out of you or swindle you. I personally think that this is one of the more creative expressions from the Québec French variety.
- J’ai la langue à terre.Roughly translates to “my tongue is on the floor” which means either you are really hungry or tired. The downside to this expression is that you might need to elaborate further after each time you say it, which, all the more, delays the relief you are hoping to get from either hunger or exhaustion. This expression, just like the previous example, may have its roots from Classical French.
- Lâche pas la patate! Literally, this translates to “don’t let go of the potato.” Yet another interesting expression, if you hear this from a French Canadian, he could be giving you encouragement not to back out of a daunting task, which is touching. But, most of the time, he is more likely threatening you not to chicken out of a bet, a dare, or a promise.
- Gosses. This, for sure, can be a very tricky word between Québec French and Metropolitan French. When in France, it will not be an issue if you say to someone “Ca va, les gosses?”in which you are just asking how their kids are doing. Gosses in Québec French however, has come to mean “testicles” for some reason. In short, the typical way of greeting someone’s kids in Metropolitan French may not elicit a pleasant response when spoken in Quebec.
