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« J’trouve ça un p’tit peu frette! (#933)
Short on top, long in the back, horrible all over (#935) »

What does the Québécois expression PASSER AU CASH mean? (#934)

27 April 2015 by OffQc

In his latest article, Rabii Rammal writes about his mother who lived through the war. The bomb warnings that would drop from the sky (and facetiously paraphrased here by Rabii) used to read:

« Salut, vous, votre quartier passe au cash dans quelques heures. Mettons que si on était vous, on resterait pas pour un dernier verre. »

“Hello, in a few hours, you and your neighbourhood are in for it. Let’s just say if we were you, we wouldn’t stick around for a last drink.”

[Rabii Rammal, “Ma mère est une peureuse,” La Presse, 26 April 2015]

Passer au cash…

Passer à la caisse means to go to the cash (and pay). Cash is the English word for caisse. The expression passer au cash used here also means to pay, but in the sense of receiving a punishment or getting in trouble.

Attends que j’te pogne… tu vas passer au cash!
Wait till I catch you… you’re gonna pay!, you’re in for it!, you’re gonna get it!

You can also learn the expression mettons que from Rabii’s quote above. It means let’s (just) say that. We saw an example of this expression in #260 when a school teacher from the TV show 30 vies said:

J’suis contente que ça se calme dans ma classe parce que, côté famille, là… mettons que… mettons que ça se corse.

I’m happy things are calming down in my class because, as far as home goes… let’s just say… let’s just say things are getting complicated.

[30 vies, season 1, episode 54, Radio-Canada, 12 April 2011]

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Posted in Entries #901-950 | Tagged 30 vies, français québécois, mettons que, passer au cash, Québécois French, Rabii Rammal | 6 Comments

6 Responses

  1. on 27 April 2015 at 17:06 Joe Agnew

    Correct me if I am wrong, but even in English, “cash” used in this sense is a regional usage. In the U.S., we would say “(cash) register.”


  2. on 27 April 2015 at 17:34 Catherine McKay

    Funny you should say that, Joe Agnew. There has been a discussion on the Duolingo website regarding translating “la caisse” as “the cash.” Some of us English Canadians are quite familiar with and regularly use “cash” to mean “cash register.” Others thought it was completely strange. There was no real way to figure out if it was even regional within Canada, since those who accepted it and those who claimed they’d never heard of it came from different places in Canada – but it did seem to be pretty much uniquely Canadian. I’m in Toronto, but some other people in Toronto didn’t understand it, while some in western Canada and Quebec did.


  3. on 27 April 2015 at 17:44 altemont

    Allow me to suggest that this is less about cash and paying than it is about “turning into cash” or “cashing out” of a game and leaving, i.e., your neighborhood is getting cashed out in a few hours…


    • on 27 April 2015 at 18:10 OffQc

      Passer au cash is used in the sense of to get punished, get in trouble, be in for it, etc. You’re right: it’s not literally about paying (it’s not about money), but it is about paying in the figurative sense (getting punished). I’m not sure to cash out conveys that, unless that expression has a figurative meaning I’m unfamiliar with.


  4. on 28 April 2015 at 20:44 rhodia69

    “Cash” is NOT the English word for “caisse.” “Cash” as a noun is the English equivalent of “money.” As a verb: “Can you cash my check?” = Can you give me the money for it? The English word for “caisse” is “cashier.”


    • on 28 April 2015 at 22:07 OffQc

      We’re going to have to chalk it up to regional difference.

      to pay at the cash
      to work at the cash
      to open the cash
      to close the cash…

      These all sound natural to me. Cash in all of those examples means register, or till, or the area where you pay.

      For me, caisse and cash are equal in that sense.

      payer à la caisse
      to pay at the cash (register)

      passer à la caisse
      to go to the cash (register)

      Passer au cash has a figurative (i.e., not literal) meaning here — to get punished.

      Cashier is caissier/caissière, not caisse.



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