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Silliest French word I learnt so far

So this guy must actually say something which resembles je trouvame!

(ça me rappelle Rimbaud, je est un autre.)
 
Not only does "je trouvame" mean nothing, the word "trouvame" itself is badly spelt. "Trouvâmes" does exist in literature, but not one French-speaker in the entire world would ever say that.
 
Cheese said:
Not only does "je trouvame" mean nothing, the word "trouvame" itself is badly spelt. "Trouvâmes" does exist in literature, but not one French-speaker in the entire world would ever say that.
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Remember Canadians don’t speak the same French as the French. I understand they use a number of words that are no longer used in France. I don’t know enough to say whether that’s the case here.
 
Stunsworth said:
Remember Canadians don’t speak the same French as the French. I understand they use a number of words that are no longer used in France. I don’t know enough to say whether that’s the case here.
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Some of Canada's French is still trapped in the time of the taking of Quebec by Wolfe. In French, the circumflex indicates where an "s" used to be, e.g. île (ironic that English has preserved the original French spelling isle). As I understand it, some québécois spelling retains that "s" - the one that comes immediately to mind is the former leader of the separatist Parti Québécois, René Lévesque (the "s" being silent"). The French spelling would be Lévêque.
 
mandryka said:
Tabernac!


That is certainly one of the silliest French words I have ever learned.
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"Tabernacle" originally, holy tabernacle and all that. Usually pronounced and transcribed as "Tabarnak" these days. Strictly a Québécois thing.
 
Poutine.jpg


How about poutine = a cross between the president of Russia and a sex worker.
 
Er... what’s that? (double question actually!)

Yes, Tabernacle is strictly Canadian. My sister lives in Quebec and says it a lot.
We use p...ain or merde a lot in France!
 
Here's a serious question for the real Frenchies.

Why do you say

Il n'y a pas de sots métiers, il n'y a que de sottes gens.

And also say

La Ballade des gens heureux


I mean, is it feminine in the plural or not!? Or does it have something to do with whether the adjective is before or after the noun?
 
chartz said:
Er... what’s that?

Yes, Tabernacle is strictly Canadian. My sister lives in Quebec and says it a lot.
We use p...ain or merde a lot in France!
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That is the Quebec national dish.

The French do swear more than the English I think -- I mean putain seems to me to be more socially ubiquitous that the F word.

When the French say things like "Mercredi!" -- is that just a silly euphemism? Like in English some very old fashioned people would say "sugar" instead of "shit"
 
Yes we have a few oddities like that.
Organ can be either feminine or masculine.
Les grandes orgues de Notre-Dame, or le grand orgue de Notre-Dame.
Funny that.
 
chartz said:
Yes we have a few oddities like that.
Organ can be either feminine or masculine.
Les grandes orgues de Notre-Dame, or le grand orgue de Notre-Dame.
Funny that.
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The other one I learned at school was amour - mon amour enfantin, mes amours enfantines.

Mais pourquoi pas La ballade des gens heureuses?
 
mandryka said:
That is the Quebec national dish.

The French do swear more than the English I think -- I mean putain seems to me to be more socially ubiquitous that the F word.

When the French say things like "Mercredi!" -- is that just a silly euphemism? Like in English some very old fashioned people would say "sugar" instead of "shit"
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But putain is more like oh hell in terms of how offensve it is. I'd never say oh **** in front of anyone like the french say putain in front of anyone.
 
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