degree of "awfulness"

[mint]

Seeing as there has recently been some new threads on the French Language Forum, I feel encouraged to present for your consideration a few words relating to "awfulness" or "horribleness" and invite people to grade them from 1 to 12, increasing in er...degrees [:)]

Here then is the list and mind you do your homework sooner rather than later because I shall be back to check your answers when I return from the gym [geek]

1) affolement

2) appréhension

3}effroi

4) frayeur

5) inquiétude

6) frousse

7) trac

8) épouvante

9) horreur

10) alarm

11) phobie

10) panique

So....over to you....alors!

Edit:  oops, pardon, for alarm read alarme!

 

[woolybanana]

Well, regardless, it is a bit like jolie, beau etc, they are largely interchangable and depend on the personality of the user. Thus, say, a matronly Welsh housewife might well make a difference but ados would not, except that they do tend to user version where possible as they are lazy little horreurs, easily prone to la trac and des phobies as well as horreurs, but the rest are far too long![kiss]

[mint]

Guess nobody is particularly interested in how awful things can get!  Can't say I blame them.

Moi, I shall try hard not to paniquer even if things get really épouvantale!

And mind who you call "matronly".......[:P]

[woolybanana]

Thought that would get you awake , ol gal!

[mint]

You can't half go off some people really quickly!

[woolybanana]

Well said Chuckles!

[Loiseau]

Ooh, gosh, very subtle, amd some I had never heard of (frousse, for example).

FWIW here is my suggestion

Inquietude

Apprehension

Trac

Alarm

Frayeur

Affolement

Frousse

Effroi

Alarm

Phobie

Panique

Horreur

[idun]

Immediately comes to mind  ...........affreuse, atroce, terrible and dégoûtant.

[YCCMB]

What about la trouille?

[Pierre ZFP]

Slightly off topic but did you know that the Luxembourgish word for 'Terrible' is 'Shrek'  Somebody in Hollywood did their homework

[Cendrillon]

Pierre, my immediate thought was "Shrek" is fairly close to the German word "schrecklich". So perhaps that is the connection.

[Chancer]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]What about la trouille?
[/quote]

I love that one!

As with all new words you are often left with a complete understanding of when and where it is said but as for translating it, well thats another matter.

Of course avoir la trouille probably means nothing of the sort but the word cunjures a vision to me of an uncontrollable and reflexive tightening of the sphincter muscles in the way that anyone who has driven a really low slung sports car like a Caterham gets when they see a speed bump or pothole at the very last minute.

Every time I hear the word spoken relating an experience my muscles twitch in sympathy [:-))]