Posts tagged with "Renaud"

Do you know what “LAISSE BÉTON” means in French Slang, “concretely”? If not, then “Just Forget It”!

Posted by Mr. Transparent 1 Comment
Oct 29 2010
Oyez, oyez ! We’re now officiellement about to cover la première moitié (the first half) of the alphabet in our featured “B.A.-BA de l’argot” (“the ABC of French Slang”), and in order to properly celebrate this one happy occasion, we shall concentrate today on one and only expression which, in many funny ways, epitomizes French Slang: “LAISSE BÉTON !“

But juste une seconde (just a sec’), before we do that that, let’s make sure you bookmark all the previous posts, because what you’ll end up saving as a référence personnelle is an essential guide that will help you overcome the informal French barrier so often met by foreign students, especially when they go to France for the first time and hear French people speak among themselves (“Zut alors, it’s all Greek to me!”), or when they watch French movies, or even listen to French songs!

     
This is a “concrete” (uhm) example of a ”bétonnière qu’on a laissé béton”… - Roughly translated: A concrete mixer which was ”dropped like it’s hot.”  If you still don’t get it, then, well, laisse béton… Or just read the section below!

Once again, the links to the previous posts are listed here alphabétiquement.
 Les voici, les voilà:
 
- A: * B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘A’ (the ABC of French Slang: ‘A’)
- B: * B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘B’ (the ABC of French Slang: ‘B’)
        * B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘B’ [Cont.] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘B’ [Cont.])
- C: * “C comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘C’)
        * “C comme…(Ça Continue!)” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French   Slang: ‘C’ [cont.])
- D: * “D comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘D’)
- E: * “E comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘E’)
- F: * “F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [1] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [1]) 
        * “F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [2] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [2])
- G: * More French Slang! B.A.-BA de l’Argot: “Lettre G” (1ère partie)
        * More French SLANG! B.A.-BA de l’Argot: “Lettre G” (2ème partie)—and ATTENTION aux MEUPORGs!
        * “GRATOS!” and other ‘G’ French Slang words (3ème partie)
- I:     * ‘I’ comme “Illico Presto!”—and more from le B.A.-BA de l’Argot (The ABC of French Slang)
- J:  * Madame JE-SAIS-TOUT (and more of the ABC of French Slang!)
- K: “Hey KEUM, Tu KIFFES l’argot ou KOI?” (an enKore of the ABC of French Slang) 

* * *

“L Comme…” (“L as in…”):

* L  A  I  S  S  E
 B   É   T   O   N   ! :

Even if you knew the meaning of each one of these two words separately, it’d be impossible for you to understand what the overall expression means, unless you’re already acquainted with the French concept of verlan !

Like we saw in previous posts of the B.A.-BA, the French word “verlan” means backslang. So, in this case, “béton” -which otherwise would literally mean “concrete” (the construction material, that is)- is in fact a backslang for the verb “tomber“, or “to fall” in English.

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A funny rendering of the famous Renaud song “Laisse béton”, translating most of the lyrics from French Slang into their literal -and at times, “concrete”- meaning…

Combining both verbs, laisser (to let) and tomber (to fall) would give us “laisser tomber“, which means “to let fall”, or to just “drop” something.

A friend of yours would tell you: “Allez, laisse béton, on s’en va !“, that would mean: “Come on, drop it (or forget it), let’s just go!”

So, if after all this, if you still don’t get it, then, well, just “laisse béton” :)

“GRATOS!” and other ‘G’ French Slang words (3ème partie)

Posted by Mr. Transparent No Comments
Aug 30 2010

The TRASPARENT FRENCH BLOG never ceases to give you the best, most fun, and most updated source of the most commonly used French slang words and expressions available sur la toile ! (on the web.)

Et c’est reparti (here we go again):

What would it mean if you hear someone telling you in French: “allez, grouille-toi !”?
Or if you’re offered something “gratos“?

After we went through the first two parts of the letter ‘G‘, here comes la troisième partie (the third part):

“G comme…” (G as in…)

* GONFLÉ:
We have already seen in ““D comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘D’)“ that the verb “se dégonfler” means to become “deflated“, but means in argot “to become scared”, to “chicken out”, to become a “coward.” An equivalent (informal) expression is “avoir la frousse“, “avoir la trouille“, or “avoir froid aux yeux“: Literally to get “cold in the eyes”, or “to get cold eyes”, which of course should remind us of the expression ”getting cold feet” in English.

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“Bibendum” (the Michelin mascot) se dégonfle !

The adjectif ”gonflé” means just the opposite (without the prefix “dé-“), as in bold, brave, verging on insolence and impertinence.

* GONZESSE:
Means a “chick”, a girl. It is not necessarily offensive, but it’s not normally intended to be used in polite company either.
Popular French singer Renaud has a song called “Ma gonzesse” (“My chick”):
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* GOSSE:
You remember that “gamin” (from ““Un gamin de Paris!” (Yves Montand)”) means a “kid”, a “child.” Gosse can be considered its synonym. It’s pronounced the same way you would -in French of course!- pronounce the last name of the great German mathematician ”Carl Friedrich Gauss.”


Carl Friedrich GAUSS

That doesn’t help? Then remember that it’s pronounced the same way you would say it in the word “gossip” (think “Gossip girls” if all fails…)
“Beau gosse”, on the other hand, means “a good looking guy.” Hence the “cutting-edge concept” of “bogossitude”, introduced by the self-proclaimed “bogosse-in-chief”, Michael Vendetta!
–* GRATIS/GRATOS:
“Gratos” or “gratis” come from the word “gratuit”, which means free, or “free of charge.”
“Sers-toi, c’est gratis” means “help yourself, it’s free.”


Le “French Blog”, c’est 100% GRATIS !
–SE GROUILLER:
The verb se grouiller means “to hurry up.” So, if someone tells you “allez, grouille-toi!“, that means ”come on, hurry up!”

For a version québécoise of this expression, here’s un petit exemple (avec l’accent!): “grouille-toi là!”
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L’Hexagone

Posted by Transparent Language 2 Comments
Sep 30 2008

France is a country to love as no matter what you are looking for: mountains, beaches, rivers…you will find it all in France.

The entire country is roughly 80% the size of Texas, so you have so much available geographically and you can can get to it all in very little time.  It is bordered by Italy, Spain, Andorra, Monaco, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium which means it is a great base for European travel.  Two-thirds of France is covered with mountains and hills including the famous Alps, the Jura, the Vosges, the Pyrenees and the Massif Central.  As far as beaches, there’s the English Channel to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Bay of Biscay to the southwest and the Mediterranean to the southeast. 

Mainland France, also known as the Hexagon due to its shape, is administratively divided into 22 regions: Alsace, Aquitane, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Burgundy, Brittany, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corsica, Franche-Comté, Haute-Normandie, Île-de-France (where the largest city and capital Paris is located), Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Midi-Pyrenees, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la Loire, Picardy, Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Rhône-Alpes.  It also has four overseas departments: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion.  Its overseas countries and territories include New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna Islands and the French Southern and Antarctic Territories among others.

Côte d’Azur is well-known as the French Riviera and its hot, dry summers and mild winters make it a very popular beach area that attracts people from all over the world.  The mountains tend to be colder with a lot of rain and snow which means there are some great ski resorts.

Besides Paris, its largest cities as far as population are Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, Nice, Bordeaux, Nantes, Strasbourg, Toulon, Douai-Lens, Rennes, Rouen, Grenoble and Montpellier.  All of these cities have rich histories and customs and we’ll take virtual tours of them in later blogs.

Here is a 1980 song by Renaud entitled Hexagone that makes various satirical references to French society and geography.

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You can read the lyrics here.

And here is a heated French discussion on the song.

‘Être né sous l’signe de l’hexagone’ ça veut dire quoi pour vous?

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