Any idea what en est** in the headline above is? (It’s from TVA Nouvelles on 29 January 2014.)
Let’s back up first in the headline to look at on s’est payé la traite. We saw this expression a few days ago when looking at an informal pronunciation of je me suis in entry #923:
J’me su’s payé la traite.
I went all out, I treated myself.
Se payer la traite means to treat oneself, to go all out (and you’ll remember that j’me su’s is an informal pronunciation of je me suis — review here).
On is often used in the sense of we, so on s’est payé la traite in the headline means we treated ourselves, we went all out.
What about en est**?
If we go into the article, we find the word est** spelled out in full:
«Je n’ai jamais eu des vacances de même de toute ma vie. On s’est payé la traite en estie.»
“I’ve never had holidays like that in all my life. We really fucking went all out.”
En estie is a vulgar usage. That’s why estie was blocked out with two asterisks in the headline. Estie derives from hostie. The expression en estie is a vulgar way of saying a lot, in a big way, etc. Y fait beau en estie! It’s fucking nice out!
Another expression like en estie is the equally vulgar en tabarnak. Mon père est riche en tabarnak. My father’s fucking rich.
The expression en ta is a toned-down version of en tabarnak. C’est bon en ta! It’s darn good!
