J’crois que j’ai utilisé toutes mes journées de maladie, faque j’vais caller morte. I think I’ve used up all my sick days at work, so I’m gonna call in dead.
If only!
The expression utiliser une journée de maladie means “to use a sick day (at work),” which is calqued on the English equivalent. We can also say this expression as prendre un congé de maladie.
Faque means alors, “so.” It comes from a reduction of (ça) fait que.
Caller (pronounced câllé; the â makes an “aww” sound) derives from the English verb “call.” Caller as used in this meme is strictly an informal usage.
Caller morte (to call in dead) is not a frequently used expression in Québec. Despite the Québécois’ reputation of having a laid-back attitude to life, not even here is it common to call in dead at work! The expression is just used for comic effect. It’s based on the equally informal expression caller malade (to call in sick).
Don’t confuse the informal caller with the verb caler. Not only are these two verbs pronounced differently (caler doesn’t use the â sound), they don’t mean the same thing. Example: caler une bière, to down a beer, to chug a beer. Caler une bière is a Québécois expression.
Image source: quebecme.me
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Update:
To make this meme sound even more like colloquially spoken French, we could change j’vais to j’vas (sounds like jvâ). This alternate conjugation is frequently heard in the spoken French of Québec.
You’ll also hear m’as (sounds like mâ). It means the same thing as j’vas/j’vais (m’as caller morte, I’m gonna call in dead).
An alternate and more spontaneous sounding wording:
J’pense que j’ai pris toutes mes journées de maladie, faque m’as caller morte / faque j’vas caller morte.
