Yesterday I renewed a membership, and a new carte d’abonné (membership card) was given to me.
As I put the new card into my wallet, the employee serving me told me not to put it away yet because she still needed it.
Serre pas ta carte, she said. “Don’t put your card away.”
She used the verb serrer in the sense of ranger, or “to put away.”
Using serrer in this sense is an example of a word with a meaning that is now rare in France but that lives on in Québec.
The OQLF gives some examples here of serrer in the sense of ranger, including:
serrer son linge dans des tiroirs
serrer sa bicyclette dans la remise
serrer ses papiers importants
serrer la vaisselle dans l’armoire
linge, clothes
remise, shed
armoire, cupboard
