I came across a little sign in a sports equipment store. It says:
Faites votre frais avec ce gilet.
There’s word play going on here… To understand it, you first need to know the expression faire son frais as used in Québec.
One of the advantages of this gilet is that it’s been designed to keep you cool, or frais, when you wear it.
That’s why the author of this sign chose the expression faire son frais to promote it — it allows for wordplay on frais, “cool.”
What does faire son frais mean?
Faire son frais means “to show off” in Québec.
There are two forms to this expression: a masculine form (faire son frais) and a feminine form (faire sa fraîche).
What this sign is telling us is that we can show off by wearing this gilet, with the added meaning conveyed by the word frais that it will keep you cool.
Faites votre frais avec ce gilet.
Show off with this shirt.
(and keep cool)
More examples of faire son frais…
As usual, I went digging around on the web looking for good examples of the expression faire son frais, faire sa fraîche. Here’s what I found. Remember, you can click on all the images to see a larger size.
Ce chien fait son frais dans une Porsche!
This dog is showing off in a Porsche!
In the image, we see a dog poking its body out the window, showing off as he rides in a Porsche.
On a site called Gros Blogue, I found an article about the best selfie of the year. They displayed images of different selfies taken by celebrities.
For one of the selfies in particular, the caption used the expression faire son frais:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt qui fait son frais dans sa limousine.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt who’s showing off in his limousine.
The smug look on his face says it all… faire son frais!
And the feminine form faire sa fraîche…
But what about the feminine form faire sa fraîche? All the examples that follow refer to females (or feminine nouns).
A blog author expresses dislike for the show Tout le monde en parle and has this to say about it:
J’écoute que très rarement l’émission Tout le monde en parle, je suis vraiment pas capable de Guy A. Lepage, Dany Turcotte et de l’espèce de pétasse prétentieuse qui fait sa fraîche avec son vin.
I only watch the show Tout le monde en parle very rarely. I really can’t stand Guy A. Lepage, Dany Turcotte and the pretentious bitch who shows off with her wine.
Side note 1: Do you remember the informal expression pas capab’? If someone says chu pas capab’ de Guy A. Lepage, it means “I can’t stand Guy A. Lepage.” In entry #812, we saw examples of this expression, like: Moi là, l’hiver, pas capab’, which means that the person can’t stand winter.
Side note 2: The verb écouter is used very frequently in Québec to talk about watching a television show. Regarder is also used in Québec, but know that you’ll probably hear écouter used more often: écouter une émission, to watch a show.
In another example, a blog commenter writes a sentence that mentions a sister-in-law showing off with a new coat from France:
La belle-sœur faisait sa fraîche avec son manteau commandé en France (…).
The sister-in-law was showing off with her coat ordered from France.
And in this last example, the author of an article about cars comments on the lack of style of a particular model of Hyundai:
Donc, aussi digne de notre attention fût-elle, cette petite machine n’a jamais fait sa fraîche au chapitre du style.
So, as much as (this car) was worthy of our attention, it’s never stood out (lit., showed off) as far as style goes.
Felix, is it always faire son/sa frais/fraiche? The reason I ask this silly question is I was wondering if you could apply it to yourself, as a joke perhaps, and if you did, would it be mon/ma? Or if you said it to someone directly – “You’re showing off” … would it be ton/ta? Thanks for your patience.
Yes, you can use mon, ma, ton, ta, etc. — and, no, it’s not a silly question at all. I should have included examples of this.
Arrête de faire ta fraîche!
Je faisais mon frais comme si j’étais une vedette.
In the first image, votre was used.