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 tellement énervé doesn’t have the negative meaning of “annoyed” or “irritated” like it does in France.
It has the positive meaning of “excited.”
Remember, je suis is very often pronounced informally as chu or chui.
I’ll use the spelling j’suis below to show these informal pronunciations.
J’suis tellement énervée, je tiens plus en place.
I’m so excited, I can’t keep still.
Je dors p’us, j’suis tellement énervé!
I can’t sleep anymore, I’m so excited! (P’us in informal pronunciation of the negative [ne] plus. It sounds like pu.)
Je capote, j’suis énervée, excitée…
I can’t calm down, I’m so excited…
J’suis toute énervée, là! J’ai plein de papillons!
I’m so excited! I’m all butterflies!
J’suis tellement énervé de partir.
I’m so excited to leave.
J’étais très énervé à l’idée de le rencontrer.
I was very excited at the idea of meeting him.
J’suis tellement énervée! J’me peux p’us! Maudit que j’ai hâte!
I’m so excited! I can’t take it anymore (can’t wait)! Damn I can’t wait!
In that last example above, j’me peux p’us is a contraction of je (ne) me peux plus and means essentially the same thing as j’ai hâte. The informal p’us sounds like pu.
You’ll remember that the Québécois pronounce â like “aww,” so hâte almost-sorta-kinda sounds like the English word “ought,” whereas in France hâte sounds more like the English word “at.”
J’ai hâte! J’me peux p’us!
I can’t wait! I can’t take it anymore!
J’me peux p’us… dans trois jours, je pars en vacances!
I can’t wait… in three days, I’m going on holiday!
Câline, j’me peux p’us, j’ai trop hâte de voir ça!
My goodness, I can’t take it anymore, I can’t wait to see it!
The expression je me peux plus can take on another sense: A woman asked online in a forum for pregnant mothers if she could take a quick dip in the pool on a hot day despite having a slightly detached placenta. Another woman responded with this advice for her on hot days:
Moi, j’ai toujours un pouche-pouche d’eau dans le réfrigérateur. Quand je me peux pus, je m’arrose de cette eau très froide et OH que ça fait du bien!
I always keep a spray bottle filled with water in the refrigerator. When I can’t take it anymore, I spray myself with the cold water and OH does it ever feel good!
Here, the idea behind je me peux plus is not being able to withstand any longer (and not “I can’t wait” like in the other examples).
Yes, un pouche-pouche is a spray bottle! Here, it’s used to talk about a spray bottle filled with water; it’s also used to talk about spray bottles filled with perfume. This funny term comes from the sound the spray bottle makes… pouche-pouche. 😀
And now I think this entry has officially gone off topic. We started with being excited and now we’re talking about… pouche-pouches!
P.S. Énarvé is a pronunciation variation of énervé. Pronouncing ar instead of er is more typically associated with older speakers (e.g., varte instead of verte). The exception to this is the ar sound in vulgar words, which can be heard in all age groups, like tabarnak, viarge, marde, as opposed to tabernacle, vierge, merde.
Great info! I’m pretty sure I’ve seen my friends use “Je me peux plus/pu” on Facebook and I never had any idea what it meant. This really clears things up, thanks!
Glad to hear it, Rachel! 😉
Can ‘je me peux plus’ also be used to say ‘I can’t do it anymore,’ or ‘I’ve had it?’ Or should one stick to ‘Je n’en peux plus?’
Stick with je n’en peux plus (and more informally j’en peux plus or j’en peux pu) in those cases. For example, if you can’t eat anymore because you’re full: ouf, j’en peux plus!
Je me peux plus has more the sense of not being able to contain yourself, for example because of excitement. Many times je me peux plus is synonymous with j’ai hâte.
Congrats on entry 800!!!! I don’t really remember when I started to read your blog, but l do remember it was a long time ago.
Go on!!
Sí, claro que voy a seguir, ¡gracias César! 😀
Merci, c’est tout bon!
Y’a pas d’quoi, Beverly!
I’ve heard “pouche pouche” pronounced “pish pish,” in Northern Maine/New Brunswick (Also to refer to the windshield wash in a car). Is “pouche pouche” pronounced as you’ve spelled it here/have the alternate meaning?
Yes, pouche pouche is pronounced as its spelled. What you heard is probably just a variation…
Interesting… So if I wanted to say “That’s so exciting,” would it be “C’est tellement énervant”? (I’m not sure how to say it in France French either since “excitant” is too sexual. “C’est génial”?)
Let’s imagine a context, like this one:
– I’m going to Paris in April.
– Wow, that’s so exciting!
Here are some ideas off the top of my head, not necessarily literal translations of “that’s so exciting”:
– Je pars à Paris en avril.
– Wow, c’est génial!; c’est super!; c’est une super bonne nouvelle!; wow, c’est le fun!; c’est tripant!; tu vas triper solide!; tu vas tellement aimer ça!, …
Triper solide feels like “to have a blast.” In this context, c’est le fun means “that’s great” and not “that’s fun.”