The STM is Montréal’s public transportation provider (bus and métro).
In French, the name is feminine: la STM.
Here are 3 things for you to learn in French that I’ve heard said by ruffled STM employees recently.
1. Madame, avec le carrosse!
Madame, with the baby carriage!
(i.e., hey you, with the baby carriage!)
This was shouted angrily by an STM employee in the Montréal métro.
The employee was angered by something a lady pushing a baby carriage had done, so she came running out of her ticket booth and yelled this before the lady could walk off.
I don’t know what the lady had done wrong, but I noticed her baby carriage was empty. Maybe she forgot the bundle of joy at the turnstile or something.
2. Let’s go! Let’s go!
Let’s go! Let’s go!
(i.e., hurry the fuck up, people!)
As people boarded the bus at a busy métro station, this was said by an STM employee standing on the pavement beside the bus door.
This employee was encouraging people to get on the bus faster. There was a long queue of people waiting to get on, and some people were taking their sweet time boarding the bus (as usual).
Obviously this expression is English, but you’ll definitely hear it in French too.
3. Déplacez-vous vers l’arrière, s’il vous plaît!
Please move to the back of the bus!
(i.e., will you people stop blocking the door goddamnit!)
An exasperated driver had to yell this a few times when riders of the bus kept crowding the front portion of the bus. There was room at the back of the bus for more standing passengers.
Sometimes when you board a bus, you’ll have to push your way through a wall of stubborn people all huddled together near the front door.
P.S. My respect to STM employees. I’d get pretty exasperated too if I were one.
Image: Wikipedia
