SaligoBay Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 Here are some I hear regularly......- black (as in travail)- speed ("il est très speed")- cool (très cool, trop cool, carrément cool)- dealer (that's a verb, btw, pronounce it like delay - "il dealait sous le pont de Boisseron", Peter mpprh will recognise this one).That's enough for a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistral Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 dealer (that's a verb, btw, pronounce it like delay - "il dealait sous le pont de Boisseron", Peter mpprh will recognise this one).I hope you meant that he will recognise the place, not the activity While we're on drugs (I didn't mean it that way) you get the verb se shooter which you obviously do with le shit. black is used to describe black people too c'est un black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opas Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 Heres a twist on one, Our youngest had her friend to tea, she is learning English in school and asked what the various cutlery items are called, so we did glass, plate,knife ,fork......she gasped and giggled with our youngest and started to whisper...fork is a swear word in french she says whilst showing her fingers! .......try it with a french accent! so that is a french word to I take it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mpprh Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 HmmI know the bridge. even searched under it to see the roman origins, but didn't know it was famous for other things.Just a point for SB : the bypass is now open, so you won't go over this bridge on the way to Sommieres (also known for dealing) anymore when coming from the South.And another point for SB : When did they build the Salinelles bypass ? Just found it this weekend.Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 Clean was new to me this summer.Relax is very popular, and zen (not too sure how English the latter is?!). Le cocooning is in for this season. And of course typically British.Not to mention the round-baller, big-baller, big-bag and pick-bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weedon Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 Had a very interesting Sunday lunch last week with a local family at our house.The show stopper for me was when I started the conversation about swearing that is commonplace for brit youngsters (it would appear to me) nowadays. Turning to their sixteen year old daughter I said do your friends use a lot of swear words to which she said "not really, the only one I use is F@@@".It almost had me choking on my effing food.I must add that all four of them speak excellent english and I am glad I know them.Weedon(53) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letrangere Posted November 15, 2004 Share Posted November 15, 2004 I had a conversation with a young, well educated Parisienne the other day who said nothing else but "o-kaye" or "sooo-pair" (not superb) in reply to everything I said. So I asked what's this okay and super business and she replied both words are used regularly nowadays, especially okay, that's a really classy exclamation to throw in. She later came out with "super fantastique". And to think many of us study French because of it's beauty and rich vocabulary. M ps: Pucette, what are all these bag references? Not sure I know what they mean in English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas Posted November 15, 2004 Share Posted November 15, 2004 Quite so, hence the confusion... especially as the pronunciation in the first instance gives no clue to the French origins (and indeed the spelling of baller...)A big-bag is a bag so large you need a forklift truck or equivalent to move it, and typically an odd construction like a silo without a silo to dispense from it with ease...A pick-bag is a sort of back-to-front rucksack for picking apples into.Are ok and super loaned from the English? I hadn't noticed, they were in my textbooks over ten years ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted November 15, 2004 Share Posted November 15, 2004 O Kaye went into overdrive after Les Visiteurs came out. I can't remember it being used much previously, but everyone was saying it within a short time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Ahh, thank you. And then there's "byebye"... is "chinchin" English? I've only come across it over here... and "cake" is another one, I suppose, but not very tendance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juxtapose Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 [quote]Heres a twist on one, Our youngest had her friend to tea, she is learning English in school and asked what the various cutlery items are called, so we did glass, plate,knife ,fork......she gasped and ...[/quote]A Northern expression.........I am from the South of England, but the other day a Northern friend of ours here in Montpellier, said "have you got the Spanners"!! He! He! He! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opas Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Sorry, teresainlanguado, I am orriginally from the north of England ,but that expression is lost on me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted November 16, 2004 Author Share Posted November 16, 2004 A languado is a kind of fish. You can cook it meunière, apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opas Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 NO , No, No SB, I meant the bit about `have you got the spanners`,cricky charley don`t you start giving us cooking tips.....My cast Iron stomach has got the gastro as it is! so it must be a bad one...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted November 16, 2004 Author Share Posted November 16, 2004 Cheap chocolate, mate, that's your problem. Spanners is nives and fawks, innit?Get better soon, certainly before you go on the long tram journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letrangere Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Yes, Teamedup, wasn't it the woman in the coulottes who was okaying repeatedly in Les Visiteurs? This was indication of her social class presumably? Talking about fashion, coulottes are something you don't see so much of nowadays in France but I used to have several pairs in the 70s/80s, so comfortable, so practical. And how could we forget bye bye, even I say that occasionally in French, though never in English funnily.M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letrangere Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 As suspected, found "chin-chin" in Hobson-Jobson. "In the "pigeon English" of Chinese ports this signifies "salutation, compliments" or "to salute" and is much used by Englishmen as slang in such senses. Corruption of Chinese phrase ts'ing-ts'ing or Pekingese ch'ing-ch'ing, a term meaning thank you."M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Yes Marie- ? Chazal, I think she is/was married to Christian Clavier. She played the most awful vulgar woman, ooh kaye! I think I enjoyed Visiteurs 2 better than the first one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Il est speed.peopleDoes "le parking" count?Does anyone in England say "chin-chin"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted November 19, 2004 Author Share Posted November 19, 2004 There are some others that aren't 100% English, but they don't seem 100% French either....the verb ZAPPER, to flick through TV channels with the remote control.nickel, meaning in perfect/mint condition, but can refer to anything, even feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letrangere Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 Does "le parking" count?Very much, surely, and that's one I really like.Does anyone in England say "chin-chin"?I know two native English speakers who occasionally say "chin-chin" in place of cheers when having a drink, though neither are terribly sure why...M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 Thank you M; perhaps they have an affection for France.We can use nickel-chrome for emphasis round here. "Il a fait un travail nickel. Nickel-chrome." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 Cake. Job. Interview (what's wrong with entretien?).Words to do with computers like mail are more popular than French equivalents like courriel. Start-ups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chico Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 You can really impress your French friends by using the word feeling (with the emphasis on the "ling", of course). They use the word to convey a deeply sensitive inner sensation of poetic status. I was ticked off recently for not giving the word its due gravitas, more along the lines of "Ah fink".The trouble with these borrowed words when they are nouns is that you can never be sure what gender they should be.Chico (with feeling) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 Le look sportif, un jogging et des baskets.The origins of le talkie-walkie puzzle me.Le gentleman-farmer. Le tweed.Le five-o-clock.I think they're all masculine, or near as dammit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now