You know those sponsored ads that show up in your Facebook feed (do I even need to ask)? I’ve pulled seven comments left on those ads by other people for us to look at. Might as well turn those ads into something we can learn from.
I haven’t changed any of the words; the only changes I’ve made are to spelling and punctuation, or I may have included only part of a comment if it was long.
1. On an ad from Zoosk, an online dating site, we find this comment:
C’est d’la marde, ça.
This is shit. It’s garbage.
You’ll hear shit called marde very frequently in Québec!
If it’s crap, c’est d’la marde.
2. On an ad for a 5 km run from Color Vibe, held in different countries around the world, a Facebook user who wanted to participate named a friend in a comment and asked her:
T’es-tu down?
You down? You game?
Do you wanna go?
Do you wanna do this?
We’ve seen in other posts on OffQc that down can be used in the sense of feeling down (depressed). Chu down depuis hier, I’ve been (feeling) down since yesterday. Y’a pogné un down, he’s (feeling) down.
In this Facebook example, down means “to be willing” or “to be up for it” or, like the other informal québécois word that’s been coming up on OffQc lately, game.
T’es-tu game? T’es-tu down?
T’es-tu down pour demain?
This question uses the informal yes-no tu in it. The part that means “you” in this question is the t’. The tu is the part that signals to us that it’s a yes-no question. You can read in this PDF how asking yes-no questions with tu works in Québécois French.
3. Then there was this comment on an ad from CarrXpert promoting their body shop repairs:
Fini CarrXpert pour moi, une belle job de cochon sur mon auto.
Never again CarrXpert for me, (they) messed up my car good.
The word job in Québécois French is usually a feminine word in colloquial conversations. Job can refer to employment (for example: j’ai lâché ma job, I quit my job), but not in this example: here, it’s used in the sense of work that was carried out on a car.
4. On an ad from Keurig (they make single-serving coffee brewers that use small disposable cups), a commenter points out the negative effects of their coffee brewer on the environment:
Bravo pour faire plus de déchets! Je préfère ma vieille machine et composter ma mouture sans déchets! Gang de paresseux!
Bravo for making more waste! I prefer my old machine and composting my grounds without making waste! Bunch of lazy people!
The French word gang as used in Québec sounds much like its English equivalent. It’s a feminine noun. It can mean “gang” just like in English (like a street gang), but it’s even more often used in the general sense of a bunch of people — nothing to do with crime.
Ma gang de bureau, my friends from the office, my office group. Gang de caves! Bunch of idiots! Toute la gang est invitée, the whole gang is invited, all you guys are invited.
C’est du pink slime.
5. In a McDonald’s ad for the quart de livre (quarter pounder) showing an image of a horribly pink, uncooked hamburger patty being weighed on scale (to prove it really does weigh a quarter pound), we find this comment:
Quart de livre de marde rose et blanche.
Quarter pound of pink and white shit.
There’s that marde again!
6. Then there was also this comment on the same McDonald’s ad:
C’est dégueu. T’as-tu vu la couleur?
That’s disgusting. Did you see the colour?
And there’s that informal yes-no question marker again too. The part that means “you” in this question is the t’. The tu signals that it’s a yes-no question.
Dégueu is a short form of dégueulasse.
7. And this comment, again on the same McDonald’s ad:
Moi, du McDo, c’est pas mal fini.
For me, (eating) McDonald’s, it’s pretty much over.
Pas mal is an expression meaning “pretty” or “pretty much.” C’est pas mal cher. It’s pretty expensive. Y’est pas mal cute, lui. He’s pretty cute. J’ai pas mal de livres dans ma chambre. I’ve got quite a few book in my room.
Don’t pause between pas and mal. Say those two words together because they form an expression: c’est / pas mal / cher.
_ _ _
1. C’est d’la marde, ça.
2. T’es-tu down?
3. Fini CarrXpert pour moi, une belle job de cochon sur mon auto.
4. Bravo pour faire plus de déchets! Je préfère ma vieille machine et composter ma mouture sans déchets! Gang de paresseux!
5. Quart de livre de marde rose et blanche.
6. C’est dégueu. T’as-tu vu la couleur?
7. Moi, du McDo, c’est pas mal fini.
