In Montreal’s metro stations and in a few other places around the city, you can find free copies of a newspaper called Métro. There’s also an online version available here.
In the 27 July edition, an article written by Mario Charette explores how young people aren’t always realistic about their career choices.
The author writes about how some young people are drawn to careers providing higher social status and pay (doctor, lawyer, engineer…) instead of ones based on their interests and talents. He deplores this because it ultimately results in dissatisfaction.
A quote from the article:
Les formations et les carrières les plus prestigieuses exercent le plus grand attrait. Pour certains jeunes, admettre qu’ils n’ont pas ce qu’il faut pour poursuivre une de ces carrières, c’est déclarer qu’ils sont « poches »! Ils choisiront donc des avenues de formation irréalistes pour eux, parfois encouragés par leurs parents et leurs professeurs.
[Charette, Mario (27 juillet 2011). « Comment être à la fois réaliste et ambitieux ». Métro (Montréal), p. 19.]
The adjective between guillemets (poches) is an informal one. As an adjective, poche conveys the idea of “no good.” It means the same thing as nul in French.
In the article, the author uses poche to refer to the feeling of being “no good” that some young people experience if they admit that they aren’t cut out for a prestigious career path.
A few more examples of poche:
Ce film est poche.
= Ce film est nul. (no good, really bad, etc.)
Ce livre est poche.
= Ce livre est nul. (no good, really bad, etc.)