OffQc | Québécois French Guide

Here’s a new texto conversation in French taken from the Les Parent Facebook page.

We saw another one recently in entry #874.

Today’s conversation uses the word niaiseux. The conversation takes place between husband (blue) and wife (grey).

Click on the image to make it bigger.

Chéri, c’est quoi, le nouveau NIP de la carte?
Honey, what’s the [bank] card’s new PIN?

Tu devrais pas demander ça par texto.
You shouldn’t ask that in a text message.

Je sais, mais je suis pressée.
I know, but I’m in a rush.

(Ton âge) x 3 – 125, date du décès de ton oncle Guy, mon chiffre chanceux, nombre de pattes de mon premier chien.
(Your age) x 3 – 125, the day your uncle Guy died, my lucky number, the number of paws my first dog had.

1-2-3-4?
1-2-3-4?

Affirmatif…
Affirmative…

Niaiseux.
You goof.

NIP stands for numéro d’identification personnel. It’s pronounced like a word, not as three individual letters. Your NIP is the code you enter at the bank machine or when paying by debit.

Un texto is a text message. Par texto means “by text message.” This is similar to un courriel (an email) and par courriel (by email).

The wife calls the husband niaiseux here. She’s teasing him when she says this. It’s like calling him a goof for delivering the PIN to her through coded language. The feminine form is niaiseuse.

The adjective niaiseux can also mean “idiot” or “stupid” and be used to insult someone. It’s obvious here that it’s being used to tease though, not insult.