Five common French words… are you pronouncing them right?
instinct
The ct on the end of instinct is silent. The inct ending sounds just like the in at the beginning of the word. Say in-stin.
poing
Your fist is yourpoing in French. Poing sounds just like the French word point.
shampooing
Shampoo in French is called shampooing. The pooing part (yes, I just said the pooing part), sounds like the French word poing, which we just saw above. The sham part sounds the French word chant. Say chant-point.
cou
Your neck is your cou in French. It’s easy enough to pronounce; it’s just that you don’t want to confuse it with the word for another body part, a little farther down. Cou rhymes with fou. The ou part sounds just like the French word où. The word you don’t want to confuse cou with is cul…
cul
Your arse is your cul in French. How do you pronounce cul? Cul rhymes with tu, bu, su, dû, which use the French u sound (not ou). Don’t pronounce the l on the end of cul.
In this entry, we’ll look at an expression using the verb câlisser, as well as all kinds of other vocabulary essential to know when speaking with francophones from Québec.
Câlisse-moi là, vas-y jusqu’au boutte
Acadian singer Lisa LeBlanc uses the words câlisse-moi là in the chorus of her song of the same name. But what does this mean?
Câlisse-moi là
Vas-y jusqu’au boutte
Finis-moi ça
Pis câlisse-moi là
J’te bette que t’es pas game
Trop peureux d’voir que
J’aimerais peut-être ça
Fucking dump me
Go all the way
Just end it already
And fucking dump me
I bet you won’t do it
[You’re] too scared to see
That I might like it
The verb câlisser can be used in the sense of to “dump” someone, especially a person someone was involved with romantically. But because câlisser is a swear word, “dump” needs to be made more vulgar: we can add in “fucking” and say that câlisse-moi là means “fucking dump me.”
Lisa LeBlanc is telling the guy to end their relationship and to just fucking dump her. She doesn’t think he’s got the guts to do it though: j’te bette que t’es pas game.I bet you that you’re not game [I bet you won’t do it].
Vas-y jusqu’au boutte means the same thing as vas-y jusqu’au bout.
Lisa LeBlanc was born in New Brunswick, in 1990. New Brunswick is a province in eastern Canada and is called le Nouveau-Brunswick in French. The French spoken there is not quite the same as the French spoken in most of Québec, but it of course shares some similarities as well.
Lisa LeBlanc’s musical genre is trash folk.
C’est fini, je le câlisse là
In Ah shit, j’ai pogné le cancer (tome 1), author Maude Schiltz uses the same expression as Lisa LeBlanc did in her song.
Maude decides that she no longer wants to see a certain health professional at the hospital where she’s being treated for cancer; she’s lost all faith in him. In an email, she tells her friends:
Y a été assez poche avec moi, c’est fini, je le câlisse là. He was pretty bad with me, it’s over, I’m fucking ditching him.
[Maude Schiltz, Ah shit, j’ai pogné le cancer (tome 1), Éditions de Mortagne, Boucherville (Québec), 2013, p. 212.]
Je l’ai câlissé là
In a short story published online called I’ve got you by Louis-Martin Deslandes, one paragraph reads:
Non! Ça va pas. Je l’ai quitté… Je suis partie ce matin, j’en ai eu assez! J’ai pris mes cliques pis mes claques, pis j’ai sacré mon camp. Comme tu dirais : je l’ai câlissé là! J’en avais assez fait de sacrifices, bon! Là, ça va faire! Un moment donné, une fille se tanne.
No! I’m not okay. I left him… I left this morning, I’d had enough! I grabbed all my stuff and got the hell outta there. As you’d say: I fuckin’ dumped him. I’d made enough sacrifices! Enough is enough! At some point, a girl’s gonna get fed up.
[Martin-Louis Deslandes, I’ve got you, consulted online 18 May 2014.]
prendre ses cliques pis ses claques, to grab all one’s stuff, to get all one’s shit together (with the intention of leaving) sacrer son camp, to get the hell outta there je l’ai câlissé là, I fuckin’ dumped him là, ça va faire, enough is enough (à) un moment donné, at some point une fille se tanne, a girl gets fed up
Il mérite que je le câlisse là
I’ll leave you with this longer and very instructive example taken from a Facebook posting. In it, a woman writes about her chum who’s been cheating on her through Facebook.
Not only does she use the same expression containing the verb câlisser, she uses a lot of vocabulary that I’m sure you’ll be very interested in learning. I’ve provided a translation into English and a word list of the vocabulary you might be unfamiliar with.
The original version contained spelling and agreement errors. I’ve corrected the errors so that you can use the French version below to learn from, rather than the original on Facebook. Do take the time to read this; it’s full of vocab that you’ll find very good to know.
J’ai pogné mon chum à cruiser des filles assez clairement sur Facebook. Quand je dis clairement, je veux dire que ses intentions sont évidentes. Il se cherche une baise. C’est pas qu’il en manque à la maison en plus. Une des filles était une de ses ex. Il a eu droit à une sale coche évidemment. Il me dit qu’il la teste. C’est pour le fun pour voir ce qu’elle va dire.
Personnellement, je trouve que c’est de la bullshit et il mérite que je le câlisse là avec un coup de pied dans le cul, MAIS c’est compliqué; on a un enfant. La garde partagée m’enchante pas trop. Il dort à mes côtés à tous les soirs. Il sort rarement et, quand je travaille, il est avec notre enfant. Donc, je vois pas quand il aurait le temps de me tromper. J’y ai clairement expliqué que s’il tient à son couple, qu’il a intérêt à arrêter ses conneries. Mais je l’ai encore pogné hier.
Je sais pas quoi faire. Est-ce que je devrais parler à la fille??? Savoir ce qui se passe vraiment??? Ou s’il m’a trompée? Il dit que c’est une fille avec qui il a travaillé et qu’il voulait aller prendre une bière avec de même. J’ai de la misère à le croire. Je pense que je me fais bullshitter solide…
I caught my guy going pretty obviously after girls on Facebook. When I say obviously, I mean his intentions are easy to figure out. He’s looking for a fuck. And it’s not as if he’s not getting any at home either. One of the girls was his ex. Obviously I totally lost it on him. He says he’s just testing her, and that it’s just for fun to see what she’ll say.
Personally, I think that’s bullshit and he deserves for me to just fucking kick his ass to the curb, BUT it’s complicated; we’ve got a child together. Joint custody doesn’t sound appealing to me. He sleeps next to me every night. He rarely goes out and, when I’m working, he’s with our child. So, I don’t see when he’d have the time to cheat on me. I told him straight out that if he cares about the relationship, he better stop his bullshit. But I caught him again yesterday.
I don’t know what to do. Should I talk to the girl??? Find out what’s really going on??? Or if he cheated on me? He says he used to work with the girl and that he just wanted to go out for a beer with her. I have a hard time believing him. I think he’s totally bullshitting me…
pogner mon chum, to catch my guy cruiser des filles, to try to pick up girls [pronounced crouzer] se chercher une baise, to go looking for a fuck péter une coche, to flip out in anger [pronounced pèter] péter une sale coche, to flip out in anger big time une sale coche, a nasty display of anger c’est pour le fun, it’s for fun c’est de la bullshit, that’s bullshit [pronounced boulechitte] que je le câlisse là, that I just fucking end it with him, ditch him un coup de pied dans le cul, a kick in the ass la garde partagée, joint custody tromper quelqu’un, to cheat on someone tenir à son couple, to care about one’s relationship arrêter ses conneries, to stop one’s bullshit aller prendre une bière avec, to go for a beer with her [elle is understood] de même, like that, just like that avoir de la misère à faire, to have a hard time doing bullshitter quelqu’un, to bullshit someone (to lie to someone) se faire bullshitter solide, to have someone totally bullshit you
