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“Hey KEUM, Tu KIFFES l’argot ou KOI?” (an enKore of the ABC of French Slang)

Oct 11 2010

Attachez vos ceintures tout le monde (buckle up everybody), c’est reparti pour le B.A.-BA de l’argot (here we go again for the ABC of French Slang), avec aujourd’hui la lettre “K”!

Oui, d’accord, but avant le décollage (before takeoff), take a moment to save and update the links to the previous chapters of the B.A.-BA, always listed alphabetically, afin de vous rendre la vie plus simple (in order to make your life easier):

”Je kiffe grave le French Blog!” (“I just ‘luve‘ the French Blog!”)

* * *

“K Comme…” (“K as in…”)

* KEUF:
Even though ça a pris un léger coup de vieux (it aged a bit), this French slang word is still used for “cops”, who are also known informaly as“flics” (Exemple bien classique: “Deux Flics à Miami“, or “Two Cops in Miami”, which is the French title of ”Miami Vice.”) Notice also that while English-speaking people like sometimes to call policemen “pigs”, the French, on the other hand, prefer to refer to them as ”les poulets” (“chickens”)… A chacun ses goûts (To each their own)!

Un moment télévisuel d’anthologie (A classical moment of French TV)
Les Inconnus’ “Keufs et les meufs, dans le RER” (“The ‘chicks’ and the ‘pigs’ in the RER—The French suburb commute)—And that’s, mesdames et messieurs (ladies and gents), even way before Snoop Dog got to “park it like it’s hot”!

* KEUM:
It sounds almost just like keuf, but it’s with an “m” in the end. Yet another one of those verlan (backslang) words, it comes from the (French slang as well) word “mec” meaning a “guy”, a “dude.”

“Les MiniKeums”, le test: Ask anyone who grew up as child in France in the 90′s if they knew “les MiniKeums“… Une question plutôt rhétorique (A rather rhetorical question)

* KIF-KIF:
If you heard someone tell you not to worry, because “c’est kif-kif“, what does it mean?
It simply means that “either way, it’s just the same”, “it makes no difference.”
Whether you say: “C’est bonnet blanc et blanc bonnet“, or “C’est kif-kif“, in fact, ”c’est du pareil au même” (“It amounts to the same.”)
Pigé (Get it?)

* KLÉBARD/KLÉBS:
Un klébard or un klébs is a dog. Like we saw for the argot word “cabot” and the lovely expression of “sac à puces” (flea bag!), French people seem to never run out of particularly affectionate sobriquets in order to catch the attention of their beloved toutous (“little puppies.”)

Ceci n’est pas un berger allemand. Il s’appelle ”Krebbs l’Allemand”: Il est “keuf” et ”klébard”… Et son style alors, tu le “kiffes”?
(His name is “Krebbs Ze German”: He’s no German shepherd, but rather a “German pig”, and a “dawg”… And how about his style, don’t you ”luve” it?)

More French SLANG! B.A.-BA de l’Argot: “Lettre G” (2ème partie)—and ATTENTION aux MEUPORGs!

Posted by Mr. Transparent 2 Comments

Aug 25 2010

La dernière fois (last time), we dealt with la première partie (the first part) of the letter “G“, as we introdued the slang words: “gaga” (senile), “galère” (tough time), “gamin” (a kid), and “géant” (awesome.)

Before we kickstart today’s post and continue with the letter ‘G’, here are the links to the previous chapters of the B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang), listed alphabetically for your convenience:

“G comme…”: “G as in…” :

* GIVRÉ:
Just as in “dingue” (see “D comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘D’)) or “barge/bargeot” (see B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘B’ (the ABC of French Slang: ‘B’)), the argot term “givré” means “crazy” or “nuts.”
Literally, ”givré” means “frost.” A “double entendre” song which plays on both meanings, the literal and the figurative, is “Faut Quand Même Être Givré” (“One Has To Be Really Nuts”), by this Grenoblois (i.e. from the city of Grenoble) band:

* GLANDER:
Remember “avoir la flemme” from the last B.A.-BA post? (* “F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [2] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [2])), meaning “to feel totally lazy, like not doing anything at all”? Well, the verb glander has pretty much the same significance. If you like glander, then you’re technically called a “glandeur” (somehting like a “lazy bum”); which brings us to this song by the French group “Billy Ze Kid”, otherwise famous for a 90′s hit song by the title of “Mangez-moi!” The song in question is called “La Revanche du Glandeur” (“The Lazy Bum’s Revenge”):

Notice that the refrain (the chorus) says:
“Si le ciel est gris, je reste au lit (If the sky is grey, I stay in bed)
Si le ciel est bleu, je reste au pieu!” (If the sky is blue, I stay in “bed” [too]), as “pieu” (literally “stake”) is just another argotique term for bed!

A related or synonymous experssion to “tirer sa flemme” and “glander“ contains the verb from the next entry (gober), namely the expression “gober les mouches“, the literal meaning of which is “to swallow flies.”

* GOBER:
This verb means “to swallow” or “to gobble”, either literally or figuratively, as in to believe something easily, or “to fall for something.” Put negatively, like when you say: “Je ne peux vraiment pas gober ce mec!“, it means “I really can’t stand this guy!”
Also, see the expression “gober les mouches” from the previous entry (glander), which means “to swallow or to gobble flies.”
Needless to say, this expression is not to be taken au sens littéral (in the literal sense)… like this one “Flanby“ cat, a.k.a ”le chat gobeur de mouches!!” (“the flies-eating cat!!”)

* GOINFRER (SE):
After watching the last video, eating is perhaps not topping your list of things you’re feeling like doing right away (even though Flanby is still a cute cat), but the meaning of the verb se goinfrer means just that, and maybe a bit more, as in “to stuff one’s self.”
Just few months ago, a big national debate has taken France by surprise, dealing with kids who spend their whole time à se goinfrer de Meuporg (stuffing themselves with “Meuporgs“)… What is a MEUPORG?
You don’t know what a MEUPORG is?
You may suffer from MEUPORG and may not even know it!
Watch out for Meuporgs…
Check it out:

A L E R T E
R O U G E !
A T T E N T I O N
A U X
M E U P O R G S !
(Red Alert! BE CAREFUL OF MEUPORGS!)

“F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [2] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [2])

Posted by Mr. Transparent 7 Comments

Aug 5 2010

* * *
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39r

* FILER À L’ANGLAISE:
Depending on which side of la Manche (the English Channel, that is), you either say “filer à l’Anglaise“, or, conversely, “take the French Leave.” The expression means to ”jump ship.” Another close expression is ”fausser compagnie à quelqu’un“, like ”leaving under a cloud”!

* FIN DES HARICOTS:
“The end of beans” in French simply means “the End”, when it’s all over. Exemple, “Vous voulez dire qu’en 2012, ce sera la fin des haricots?” (“So you mean that it’s all gonna be over in 2012?”)

* FILS À PAPA:
Or “Daddy’s boy”, close in meaning to some kind of a spoiled, silver-spoon fed child.
Similarly, you can also say that someone is “un fils à maman” (Mommy’s boy!)
Check in the video below la volte-face (the about-face) of the recruiter when he finds out that the job seeker is a fils à papa, and that the papa in question is none other than the PDG (CEO) of the company…

* FLANCHER:
Synonymous to “jeter l’éponge” (“to throw the sponge”), meaning to give up.

* FLEMME:
“Avoir la flemme” means to feel totally lazy, like not doing anything at all. You can also say “tirer sa flemme”, meaning to take it easy and relax. Both expressions “avoir la flemme” and “tirer sa flemme” are used in this French song:

* FLIC:
Un or une flic means “a cop.” Like we saw in B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘A’ (the ABC of French Slang: ‘A’), ”Deux Flics à Miami“, meaning “Two Cops in Miami”, is the French title of the 80′s series ”Miami Vice.”
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8bswp

* FLIPPER:

It’s spelled the same way as the name of le gentil dauphin (the nice dolphin), but it means to get stressed out, or “worked out” about something. The adjective flippant, however, means “creepy.” For example, ”Ce film est vraiment flippant” (“This movie is really creepy.”)

* FLUTE!
Most new French learners know “zut!” or “zut alors!”, as in “darn!” or “shoot!”, but more common of an intejection is “mince!”
“Flute” is also as rarely used as “darn” in English, but it’s useful to know what it stands for if you happen to hear it.

* SE FOURRER:
To be dead wrong about something; to be mistaken.

* FOUTAISE:
Total nonsense. You can also say “des salades“ , as in “ce ne sont que des salades!”

* FRANGIN:
Frangin means “bro”, as in brother. Related to it is the word “fréro“, which is reserved for your little brother.
Here’s the trailer of the movie “Frangins malgré eux”— which is the French title of the Will Ferrell comedy “Step Brothers.”
Check it out, it’s dubbed in French!

* FRIC:
Money, dough, or ”ca$h”, as in the Euro “FRI€.“, which we’ve already seen in “YELLE (à tue-tête) if you like “le FRI€” the TTC way.”

* FRIGO:
Like the English “fridge”, Frigo is a French shorthand for refrigirator.

* FRIME
La frime is the noun which gives us a “frimeur“, that is someone who’s a show-off.
Par exemple: The character Mickael Vendetta is a frimeur wanna-be. Remember him from ”B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘B’ [Cont.] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘B’ [Cont.])“

* FRINGUES:
Les fringues mean clothes. Another argot synonym of fringues is fripes.

* FURAX:
Être furax comes from furieux, meaning furious. You can also say “disjoncter“, “perdre la boule“, or the more often used nowadays, ”péter un câble” or “péter les plombs.”

“F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [1] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [1])

Posted by Mr. Transparent 2 Comments

Jun 28 2010

You obviously like it; you’ve asked for it to come back, now you’ve got it!

Le B.A.-BA de l’Argot (The ABC of French Slang) is back, and today, it’s with la lettre F, containing a long répertoire of words and expressions which you will surely like to learn and memorize, and more importantly, above all else, to recognize, whether in reading or hearing.

Allez, c’est parti ! (Here we go!)

* * *

“F comme…”

* Fan/Fana:
‘Fana’ is basically identical in meaning to the English word ”fan”, and both “fana” and “fan” come originally from the word “fanatique” (fanatic), so they naturally mean someone who is a “big fan” of something. Par exemple: “Je suis un fana du foot“, or “Jennie est une fana de la haute cuisine.”
An iconic French TV show that resembles “American Idol” and focusing on young kids is called “l’École des fans.”
Above is a preview (or like the French sometimes say: “Ze very best of”…) of the show.
Below, also in “l’École des fans“, you can see a young Vanessa Paradis, of “Joe le Taxi“ fame, making her very first public appearance:

* Fastoche:
As in “C’est fastoche!” (“It’s easy!”), which is close to ”facile” (easy.)
Some synonymous slang expressions of “fastoche” are “ce n’est pas sorcier” (“No magic trick”), or “facile comme bonjour.”
Here’s an episode of the cartoon ”Toto” titled “Trop fastoche” (“Too easy”): First “sans les pieds” (“no feet”), then “sans les mains” (“no hands”), et après (and then)…

* Fauché:
Whether it is une personne (a person) who is fauchée, or une entreprise (a company), or un gouvernement (a government), which by the way wouldn’t come as a surprise in these times of crise fiancière (financial crisis), no one is 100% safe from being complètement fauché, i.e. “completely broke.”

* Faux jeton:
Literally means a “fake token”, and standing for a hypocritical or a disingenious person, a “fake”.

* Fêlé:
“Fêlé” is just like “zinzin“, “maboul“, “cinglé“, “malade“, “disjoncté“, “désaxé“, “timbré“, “dingue” or ”foldingue“, which are all many ways of saying that someone or somthing is “crazy.”
Learn even more ”crazy” argot words with Astérix and Obélix and Assurancetourix:

“Il l’a vraiment pas vu venir * * * Ce mignon p’tit coup d’menhir
Il a pas l’air dans son assiette * * * j’dirais même qu’il est est en miette.”

A coup d’menhir ! * * * Il s’est fait estourbir !
Il s’éclate sans arrêt * * * Il est vraiment parfait
Il est complétement sonné * * * Complétement déglingué
Il est complétement fêlé * * * Complétement déphasé !

“Sonné“, “déglingué”, “déphasé”, also mean “fou” (crazy.)

Of course, we won’t end this post today without un clin d’oeil (a “wink”) towards la Coupe du Monde. Here is an example of a coach becoming “fêlé” because of his team: In this case, it’s the Italian Fabio Capello, the England coach, nearly losing his mind during the game against the Algerian Fennecs.Is he screaming: “Pass the ball” or asking for a “Pasta Bowl“ (anyone?)

“E comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘E’)

Posted by Mr. Transparent 3 Comments

Jun 11 2010

In the “E” section of the B.A.-BA de l’Argot, we get to know today four French slang words used rather frequently; j’ai nommé:

- s’Éclater;
- s’Emballer;
- s’Embrouiller;
- s’Engueuler;
- Épingler.

* * *

* s’Éclater:
The verb “éclater” means literally ”to burst.” But figuratively speaking, its reflexive form, ”s’éclater” means “to have an awesome time”, or “to get one’s kicks doing something.” Example: “Mais qu’est-ce qu’on s’éclate avec vous !” (An exclamation which can, in addition to the direct meaning of course, convey a sense of sarcasm, in case you’re bored out of your everloving mind, in the company of people you feel utterly compelled to use this expression…)

* s’Emballer:
As with the different senses of ”s’éclater” mentioned above, the verb “emballer“ means literally “to pack“, or “to wrap“. Figuratively, however, its reflexive form, “s’emballer“, means to “get carried away“, or “to go out of control”, as in getting extremely angry. Example: “Pas besoin de s’emballer comme ça !“, when you tell someone that there is no need for them to “fly off the handle” with anger.

Here is a video of an art expo that took place in Paris just last year. As a ”double entendre“, its witty title combines both meanings of the verb “s‘emballer” (“wrapping”, that is, with the sense of ”getting carried away.”)

Paris “s’emballe”:

* s’Embrouiller:
*Une* embrouille means a “mix-up“, a state of confusion. It can also mean a quarrel, hence the verb “s’embrouiller avec quelqu’un.” Par exemple: “Nous nous sommes embrouillés autour d’une histoire stupide” (“We quarreled over a stupid story.”)
En Belgique (In Belgium), if you evoke the word ”embrouille“, you may immediately think of the oddly funny personnage of ”François l’Embrouille“ (of his real name “François Damiens”): For your information, François is a self-anointed “spécialiste belge de la caméra cachée” (“A Belgian specialist of Candid Camera.”) He identifies himself as no less than ”le plus grand provocateur de toute la Belgique” ! (www.francoislembrouille.com)

Here is François taking a pass at ”ze Inglish” language:

* s’Engueuler:
Engueler by itlsef means to yell at someone, to “bawl somebody out”. But s’engueuler avec quelqu’un means “to have a row with someone.” The corresponding noun is “une enguelade” (a dispute, a row, a bowling out.)
As you may (or may not) remember from a previous post,”Retour au Zoo des Locutions (Back to the Zoo of Idioms)“, we encountered a rather “fishy-sounding” French slang expression, namely “engueuler quelqu’un comme du poisson pourri“, which we described then as “a (charming) expression meaning to be so mad at you and ‘call you every name under the sun’, even though its literal significance is actually ’to yell at you like rotten fish’”!

* Épingler:
It comes from the noun “épingle“, “a pin. ” It means to “arrest”, “to nail”, or “to nab” someone. So if you say: “les keufs ont épinglé les escrocs en flagrant délit“, that would mean that “the cops caught the crooks red-handed.” In broad ters, “épingler” means ”to criticize harshly.”

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Posts tagged with "French slang"

“Hey KEUM, Tu KIFFES l’argot ou KOI?” (an enKore of the ABC of French Slang)

More French SLANG! B.A.-BA de l’Argot: “Lettre G” (2ème partie)—and ATTENTION aux MEUPORGs!

“F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [2] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [2])

“F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [1] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [1])

“E comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘E’)