Sometimes the French word merde (“shit”) is pronounced marde in Quebec. In a scene from Tout sur moi, an elderly man lying in a hospital bed describes his life as being une vie de marde.
Even though this was said by an elderly character, you can hear younger people say marde too. A common expression that uses this is à marde, which can be added after a noun to show someone’s dislike for something.
Example:
Mon ordi à marde arrête pas de planter!
My shitty computer won’t stop crashing!
That said, marde does not entirely replace merde in Quebec. You’ll also hear the pronunciation merde here.
While on the topic of merde/marde, I’ve seen some phrasebooks say that merci is pronounced marci in Quebec (worded in a way that suggests merci isn’t used). Although the pronunciation marci exists, you’ll want to say merci as a learner of French.
[This entry was inspired by a male character in Tout sur moi, “Santé!,” season 4, episode 10, Radio-Canada, Montreal, 17 November 2010.]
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