In the QuébecOriginal video from #970, we heard the speaker say on se calme le pompon! The expression is se calmer le pompon. (The video is below if you want to listen again. The speaker’s words have been transcribed in #970, or here in the Listen section.)
In English, we can say that on se calme le pompon means (let’s) settle down (now), (let’s) take it easy, chill out, etc. As its definition on Wiktionnaire reads, it’s a way of telling someone who’s carried away with excessive enthusiasm or panic to settle down: se calmer le pompon — cesser d’être exagérément enthousiaste, scandalisé ou paniqué devant une idée ou une situation.
Why did the speaker say it in this video? She used it because she was listing all the things that can be done in Québec in the winter (marcher, ramer, glisser, etc.) and that hockey is like a religion, so it was a playful way of telling herself (or ourselves) to calm down with all that. She also said it because it provided the opportunity to inject a Québécois expression into the ad for flavour.
The Usito dictionary defines pompon (or pompom in English) as: petite boule de fils, généralement de laine ou de soie, qui sert d’ornement, and gives an example of use: une tuque à pompon (or a winter hat with a ball on the tip; that’s why we see an image of a tuque with a shaking pompom right when the speaker uses the expression).
The Wiktionnaire page for se calmer le pompon gives us two examples of use:
Calme-toi le pompon!
Settle down! Take it easy now!
Il y en a souvent qui crient au drame parce que leur chum a oublié de leur acheter des fleurs le 14 février… Calmez-vous le pompon, les filles! L’important, c’est qu’il pense à vous le reste de l’année.
(Voir, 9 février 2006)
There are often those who get all dramatic because their boyfriend forgot to buy them flowers on 14 February… Take a chill pill, girls! What’s important is that he thinks of you the rest of the year.
In short, on se calme le pompon and calme-toi le pompon mean the same thing as on se calme and calme-toi, but they’re informal and playful-sounding usages.
