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This is what the Québécois French word QUÉTAINE looks like (#782)
Quétaine, on four wheels, at a Montréal shopping centre: quétaine Anything tacky is quétaine — or like our Mexican friends say, naco. In fact, our friend KaKo’s car, complete with five white stars and...
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10 excuses to not use a condom, in French (#783)
The website À bien y penser is about having safer sex to reduce the risk of infections. The language used there is very good to know. We first looked at some safer-sex French from that website here, in...
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Talking about [not] wanking in front of the cat in French (#784)
The irreverent Rabii Rammal In case you forgot the meaning of the verb se crosser as used in Québec, Rabii Rammal provides a mini educational review lesson in this update on his public Facebook page....
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“Sale gosse” by Stephen King + beating the Boston Bruins through donuts (#785)
Sale gosse (Stephen King) Janet points me to Stephen King’s new short story called Bad Little Kid in English. In French, the title was translated as Sale gosse. Now that you know what gosse means in...
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3 new funny postcards from Montréal to check out (#786)
In #780, we saw three postcards that I bought with different words from Québec on them — and which will soon be on their way to Mexico because César won them. ;-) The cards are made by...
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Rétroaction, and how to ask for feedback in French (#787)
I’m often asked for feedback from learners of French, usually about something they’ve written. I notice there’s hesitation over how to word the question. How do you ask for feedback in French? There...
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Why learning French might be wrong for you (#788)
You pig. Only a peasant says “mourir.” The correct verb is “trépasser.” OffQc supports you fully in your quest to learn French. But, hey, let’s be honest — learning French isn’t for everybody. If you...
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Remarks on my satirical post from yesterday (#789)
Yesterday, I posted a satirical piece about francophones’ attitudes towards French. I suspect the piece was misunderstood, which is of course the risk that comes with writing satirically. The text...
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French vocabulary related to weight and body image (#790)
Lettre d’une boulimique [illustration by Catherine Potvin]In an interesting text called “Lettre d’une boulimique,” written by an anonymous author and published on Urbania, we read about the struggles...
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7 new Québécois French words appearing on OffQc for the first time (#791)
gros bec sur le front Just when you thought you’d already see it all, along come 7 new words used in Québec appearing on OffQc for the very first time! (Or at least I think it’s the first time; even I...
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Crossing the street in French, by foot and car (#792)
passage pour piétons Not all intersections in Montréal have them, but the white strips in the image above indicate where pedestrians should cross the street. In Québec, the white strips, or bandes...
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Is Québécois French more difficult than other varieties of French? (#793)
Is Québécois French more difficult than other varieties of French? Maybe no and maybe so. By maybe no, I mean that learning Québécois French is inherently probably just as easy or just as difficult as...
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Does punishment work in getting people to learn French? (#794)
I’d always wanted to write about this but felt it was too off-topic for OffQc. I’ve since changed my mind. Considering that there are in fact a good number of francophones who read OffQc, I think this...
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What does CÂLISSE-MOI LÀ mean in Lisa LeBlanc’s song? (#795)
In this entry, we’ll look at an expression using the verb câlisser, as well as all kinds of other vocabulary essential to know when speaking with francophones from Québec. Câlisse-moi là, vas-y...
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Fuck you l’été (#799)
Fuck you l’été [Jordan Dupuis]In an Urbania article called Le monde selon J : Fuck you l’été published at the end of March, Jordan Dupuis describes his displeasure over the fact that winter was ending...
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I’m so excited! I can’t wait! Great, but how do you say that in Québécois...
Wou-hou, check la madame, est toute énarvée! Yes! Entry #800! I’m so excited! J’suis tellement énervé! Now there’s an expression that means the opposite of what you might expect… In Québec, j’suis...
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A few tips for ordering food at McDonalds in French (#801)
The meals at McDonalds are called trios in French, or at least in Québec they are. Le trio Big Mac is the Big Mac combo. I know that many of you have learned to say bonjour, je voudrais… when ordering...
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Yawka? What does “yawka” mean in Québécois French? (#802)
The expression “y a qu’à” in the form of all the Americas. Yes, really. I can hear you already… “Felix, you’re crazy. There’s no such thing as ‘yawka’ in French.” Oh yes there is! It’s just not spelled...
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Ma vie, c’est de la marde! (#803)
Ma vie, c’est d’la marde. Ma vie, c’est d’la marde. My life is shitty. [His life is shitty because he got D+ at school. Well, at least he got the +.] Stresse pas, bro! La vie est si belle! Don’t stress...
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Learn to use the words RAQUÉ and RAIDE like the Québécois (#804)
Club Athlétique Mansfield I took a photo of these two signs just outside the Club Athlétique Mansfield. Maybe you’ll remember this health club from the motivational signs we looked at a few hundred...
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