#47 - How to sound French

In this episode we talk you through an A to Z of French words and phrases - some are quirky, some are beautiful and some are historic.

These are phrases that pepper the everyday language and will help you sound French, especially as Oli, the French half of the podcast team will say them in French properly!

The French love their own language and these roll-off-your-tongue French words and phrases showcase the beauty and sometimes the quirkiness of the French language from "attendre 107 ans" which literally means wait 107 years but to the French means "this is taking forever" - and we'll explain why (Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame take a bow), to Zizanie!

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PODCAST 47: How to sound French

Janine: Bonjour and a warm welcome to the Good Life France podcast. I’m your host Janine Marsh, and I’m an ex-Londoner living in France, in the far north, rural Pas de Calais which I adore. But much as I love it here, I also love to travel all around France researching all things French to write about for my website and magazine The Good Life France. When I’m not travelling or writing,I love to chat to you on this podcast alongside my podcast partner Olivier Jauffrit. 

Oli: Bonjour mes amis. I’m Olivier, but you can call me Oli as all my friends do. I am French and I live in the south of France, in the city of Lyon where I work in the world of music and radio! Well that’s us – your happy hosts, but now let’s get straight into the podcast topic for today ! Janine what are we going to be talking about today? 

Janine: We’re going to be talking a bit French today actually. One of the things I’ve really loved learning about as I learn French is all the quirky or quaint words or phrases, beautifully put together phrases, and historic phrases that pepper the everyday language so I thought it would be fun to do an A to Z of French phrases that will help you sound French!  

Oli: Oh – this is going to be interesting – and a lot of fun! 

Janine: The French love their own language and these roll-off-your-tongue French words and phrases showcase the beauty and sometimes the quirkiness of the French language. 

Oli: Master this A-Z of French terms, and you’re sure to impress tout le monde with your French skills! And if you want to see how these phrases are spelled, you can check out the transcript on Buzzsprout! 

Janine: Now, although I speak French, obviously I’m not as good as Oli so he’s going to say all the phrases so you can hear they spoken properly and not with a British Cockney accent!  And we’re going to kick off with… 

Oli: Attendre 107 Ans

Janine: Literally it means ‘to wait 107 years’ but if a French person uses this they mean, ‘this is taking forever.’ But why 107 years you might ask, it’s very specific. Well that’s how long it took to build the great cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris! Building started in 1163 and ended in 1270.

Oli: Bouquiner. It means to read, but in a different sense to the usual ‘lire’ which is also means to read. It’s used more to mean that you are reading and enjoying it, for the sake of it. When you curl and read a book for instance, or when you get lost in a good book that’s when bouquiner comes into its own. It’s related to the word bouquiniste – a second handbook seller, the most famous of them being the bouquinistes of Paris who keep their books in wooden green boxes, fixed to the walls that line the River Seine near the Louvre Museum. 

Janine: Coucou – even I can get this one right! Coucou is used in greeting with friends like hello, it’s an informal term, mainly used by women and children. Émile Zola used the term in his novel La Terre (1870). And yes you are mimicking the sound of the cuckoo. When someone says ‘coucou’ to you, you should say ‘coucou’ back. A big coucou to Leo and Rachel in England, our biggest fans, they listen to the podcast every day I’m told! And another word you should know – cousinade, which Oli taught me a little while back and I love it - French people use it to talk about family parties or events. It is defined as a ‘family event where cousins [les cousins] are invited’. 

Oli: Dépaysement. Literally ‘to be uncountried’, ‘un-country-ness’ but it’s used to describe a feeling of culture shock, disorientation, or a real change of scene, sort of like being a foreigner in a new country.

 Oli: L’Ésprit d’escalier

Janine: Literally it translates as ‘wit of the staircase.’  And what you might think is that all about? Well you know when you’re arguing, and your adversary says something and you can’t immediately think what to say as the perfect retort, but a little bit later, when it’s too late, you go, aha, I could have, should have, would have, if I had thought of it then, said this, it would have been a brilliant retort. Well that is ‘l’esprit d’escalier’. The phrase was coined by the French philosopher Denis Diderot (1713-1784) who complained that he often thought of the perfect retort as he arrived at the bottom of the stairs after leaving the scene of a disagreement.

Oli: I didn’t know that about this phrase! So we’re up to F and Flâner

Janine: I love this word, I use it all the time! 

Oli: To flâner is to wander without having an end destination in mind, to simply enjoy the walk and all that you see for the sake of it. Take in the sights, people watch, just enjoy the moment. The term is attributed to 19th century French writer and poet Baudelaire who used the phrase ‘flâneur’ in his literature to mean someone who observes their surroundings while taking a stroll. A flaneur does not hurry to get from one place to another but experiences the landscape around him or her – usually in an urban location.  

Oli: J’ai La Gnac

Janine: It’s a slang expression meaning ‘I’m super motivated.’ The expression comes from the Gascon word ‘gnaca’ to bite. Now it means to have the desire and the will to succeed, the rage to win, to be motivated enough to never give up and keep on going even if you fall. 

Oli: Huluberlu. A crank, a fool or someone who behaves in an inconsiderate or bizarre way. It’s said to come from the name ‘Berlue’ an imaginary saint in the book Gargantua by 16th century writer and monk François Rabelais and an old French word ‘hurelu’ which meant disheveled.

Oli: Impossible n’est pas français.

Janine: Literal translation: “Impossible isn’t French.” But it actually means ‘nothing is impossible.’ The saying is attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, but it doesn’t refer to the French people, but to the French language, as in “impossible is not a French word”. In 1808 Napoleon set out to conquer Spain. Finding the pass blocked, he ordered a squadron of Polish cavalry to destroy the Spanish army guarding the pass. His officers protested it was impossible for a squadron of 140 to take on several thousand. “What? Impossible?” said Napoleon. “I don’t know that word” – hmm, he was as tough as old boots that one. Well the squadron rode off and against the odds, they won. The expression became famous and is used to refer to a stubborn attitude. 

Oli: Jaspiner. Jaspiner means to talk, but not to parler which also means talk. It’s more than talking – it’s a slang term for gossiping or chattering. Like when you sit at a terraced café in France, and along comes your friend and they stops to jaspiner with you!

Janine: Ha – so French to jaspiner! Basically to have a good old natter or as we say in England – a chin wag and if you’re listening to this and have not heard that expression before – we really do say that when we get together to have a chat, we’re having a chin wag – which conjures up all sorts of images doesn’t it! 

Oli: Kiffe. J’te kiffe is modern French slang for ’I love you.’ A word of Arabic origin meaning fun and pleasure, at first associated with alcohol and later with hashish. But now it is used by young people instead of the word ‘aime’ as in je t’aime.

Oli: Le petit Jésus en culotte de velours – ok I’ve never said this! 

Janine: Yes if you just translated that as ‘the baby Jesus in velvet pantaloons’ you’re about right. It’s a term the French use to describe a particularly smooth, velvety and exquisite wine and by extension – a succulent meal. Historians say it’s probably from an old term combining a 19th century slang term, to “fourrer une culotte” – stuff your pantaloons/trousers, meaning to get drunk and from a saying in the northeast of France that drinking a delicious local wine is like swallowing the “la culotte de velours du bon Dieu”, the velvet trousers of the good lord. Actually it’s quite an old fashioned phrase, I think young people wouldn’t use it but my neighbour Jean-Claude will say it when he has a nice glass of red wine! 

Oli: We’re up to M and the phrase is Se mettent donc sur leur trente-et-un. Literally to “put on your thirty-one”, to get all dressed up. Legend has it that the expression dates to the Middle Ages when expensive cloth ‘trentain’ was composed of thirty times 100 threads, something only the rich could afford. The poor people, who could only look on in envy, called it trente-et-un which sounded like trentain. So to put on your trente-et-un is to get dressed up in your best clothes.

Oli: Il n’y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat

 Janine: That’s too fast! Say it again! The literal translation is ‘That’s no reason to whip the cat.’ But what is actually means is ‘It’s no big deal, it doesn’t matter, no worries.’

Oli: A l’Ouest. A l’ouest literally translates to mean - ‘in the west’, but it isn’t describing a place. It is used to describe someone who is a little strange or quirky, or someone who is deep in thought or daydreaming. 

Janine: Here’s an example. Say, you’re in a meeting, you’re daydreaming about being on holiday in France and someone interrupts your thoughts and you go ‘erm… em’ and it’s clear that you’re a l’Ouest – on another planet! 

Oli: No one knows the true origin of the term. Some say it came from the adaptation of the English phrase “to go west” in the First World War, meaning to die or to be killed, while crossing the English Channel, the soldiers would be in a kind of daze. Another theory is that in the early 20th century all the theaters of Paris were situated in the east so the actors to go à l’ouest when they wanted to go home. 

Oli: Se prendre un vent

Janine: Literally to “take a wind” - it’s like when someone leans in to kiss someone and that person turns their head away and it’s the wind that kisses the person who is rebuffed. So the meaning of it is to be utterly ignored, like when someone doesn’t reply to a message and you may as well be speaking to a brick wall! Another P word I like is Pipelette – what you call a chatterbox, someone who loves to gossip, though it’s a bit old fashioned and not used much these days. 

Oli: Quand même.You’ll hear this everywhere, every day and it means ‘no way’ or ‘you’re kidding’ but also ‘not bad’. 

Oli: Ras-le-bol

Janine: The French use this term which literally translates as ‘a bowl full’ to mean ‘I’ve had enough, like we would say in English, I’ve had a belly full of it, or I’m fed up to the teeth with it.’ You can also say ‘ras-le-bol général’- I’m generally fed up with it, usually followed by a strike in France! 

Oli: Saperlipopette. It’s quite an old fashioned phrase which means something like golly gosh or goodness me, or maybe gadzooks – which I have to say in my 20 years living in the UK I never heard anyone say gadzooks, but golly gosh a couple of times! 

Oli: Tohu-bohu

Janine: It’s spelled T-O-H-U- B-O-H-U but of course French people do not pronounce the H sound – which always makes me think why have H in the French alphabet if it’s going to be silent! Anyway this is the perfect word to use when you stand looking at the cars and bikes hurtling round the Arc de Triomphe – it means chaos, absolute anarchy. It’s derived from a Hebrew word, Tohu wa-bohu describing the world before the creation of light. 

Oli: Un exutoire. It literally means an outlet such as for water, but it is also used to describe doing something in order to distract your thoughts from focusing on negative feelings or memories. 

Janine: and here’s an example for how to use it - a relationship ends and to stop yourself dwelling on what might have been, you book a fabulous weekend in Paris with your bestie and voilá, you’ll put those unwanted memories out of your mind and focus instead on the good things in life – so French! 

Oli: And Voilà is our next word! You’ll hear this everywhere in France and it means ‘here you go/here it is/there you go. ’ And sometimes we say Voilà voilà – the same but used to express impatience, there you go, now let’s move on!  

Oli: Waouh

Janine: French for wow! 

Ok, we’re up to X and I’ve got nothing. I could only think of 8 words in the whole of the French language beginning with and several of them have the same meaning! Oli – can you think of anything? Nope, he’s shaking his head. X-cuse moi because – we just can’t think of anything! 

Oli: Yaourter 

To Chanter en yaourt – literally to sing in a yoghurt, describes someone who tries to sing a song without knowing the words. 

Janine: The origins are said to come from the 14th century and the time of the Hundred Years War between England and France. When the English conquered an area, they insisted the locals speak English. Apparently, the English army liked to eat yoghurt and so the poor locals, forced to speak in words they simply didn’t understand called it to yaourt (apparently). Today it’s a popular pastime for the French to sing English language songs with the wrong words! In English its called mondegreen. Oli, I think we need an example! 

Oli: Ok, like, here we go with the song We built this city by Starship they sing “We built this city on rock and roll” but it sounds a bit like “We built this city on sausage rolls”…

Janine: Sausage rolls?! Hmmm. Sort of! How about a Beatles one “She’s got a ticket to ride” which my neighbour sings as “she’s got a tick in her eye!” This is fun. Ok they like the Beatles in my village so here’s another “Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer”, which my neighbour says “Then I saw her face, now I’m gonna leave her!”

Oli: Ok enough of that! And we’re on the last letter. La zizanie. What does it mean? In English, we say “semer la zizanie” for instance to mean a commotion, a brawl. In English you might “to stir something up” but the singular word zizanie, literally translates to “a dispute”.

Janine: Zizanie is used in French culture and was featured as the title of an Asterix book and a Louis de Funès film, a famous French actor and comedian, and the word is most likely to be used in an informal, comical, manner whenever people are arguing with gusto!

Oli: We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode, and enjoyed learning a bit about the language! 

We just want to say a huge thank you to all of you listening to our podcast and to everyone for sharing it too. We really love sharing the France we know and love with you, the authentic and real France with its wonderful history, culture, gastronomy, wine and more. It always amazes us that people are listening in about 150 countries around the world!

Janine: Yes thank you so much everyone, wherever you are, we really appreciate it. You’ve been listening to me Janine Marsh and Olivier Jauffrit. You can find me and a ton of information about France – where to visit, culture, history, recipes – everything France - at thegoodlifefrance.com where you can subscribe to the podcast, a weekly newsletter about France and my totally brilliant, completely free magazine which you can read at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com.

 But for now, it’s au revoir from me.

 Olivier: And goodbye from me.

 Janine: Speak to you soon!