French Language Blog

“F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [1] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [1])

Posted on 28. Jun, 2010 by Hichem in Culture, Music, News, People, Vocabulary

You obviously like it; you’ve asked for it to come back, now you’ve got it!

Le B.A.-BA de l’Argot (The ABC of French Slang) is back, and today, it’s with la lettre F, containing a long répertoire of words and expressions which you will surely like to learn and memorize, and more importantly, above all else, to recognize, whether in reading or hearing. 

Allez, c’est parti ! (Here we go!)

* * *

“F comme…”

* Fan/Fana:
‘Fana’ is basically identical in meaning to the English word ”fan”, and both “fana” and “fan” come originally from the word “fanatique” (fanatic), so they naturally mean someone who is a “big fan” of something. Par exemple: “Je suis un fana du foot“, or “Jennie est une fana de la haute cuisine.”
An iconic French TV show that resembles “American Idol” and focusing on young kids is called “l’École des fans.”
Above is a preview (or like the French sometimes say: “Ze very best of”…) of the show.
Below, also in “l’École des fans“, you can see a young Vanessa Paradis, of “Joe le Taxi“ fame, making her very first public appearance:

* Fastoche:
As in “C’est fastoche!” (“It’s easy!”), which is close to ”facile” (easy.)
Some synonymous slang expressions of “fastoche” are “ce n’est pas sorcier” (“No magic trick”), or “facile comme bonjour.”
Here’s an episode of the cartoon ”Toto” titled “Trop fastoche” (“Too easy”): First “sans les pieds” (“no feet”), then “sans les mains” (“no hands”), et après (and then)… 

* Fauché:
Whether it is une personne (a person) who is fauchée, or une entreprise (a company), or un gouvernement (a government), which by the way wouldn’t come as a surprise in these times of crise fiancière (financial crisis), no one is 100% safe from being complètement fauché, i.e. “completely broke.”

* Faux jeton:
Literally means a “fake token”, and standing for a hypocritical or a disingenious person, a “fake”.

* Fêlé:
“Fêlé” is just like “zinzin“, “maboul“, “cinglé“, “malade“, “disjoncté“, “désaxé“, “timbré“, “dingue” or ”foldingue“, which are all many ways of saying that someone or somthing is “crazy.”
Learn even more ”crazy” argot words with Astérix and Obélix and Assurancetourix:

“Il l’a vraiment pas vu venir * * * Ce mignon p’tit coup d’menhir
Il a pas l’air dans son assiette * * *  j’dirais même qu’il est est en miette.”

A coup d’menhir ! * * * Il s’est fait estourbir !
Il s’éclate sans arrêt * * * Il est vraiment parfait
Il est complétement sonné * * * Complétement déglingué
Il est complétement fêlé * * * Complétement déphasé !

“Sonné“, “déglingué”, “déphasé”, also mean “fou” (crazy.)

Of course, we won’t end this post today without un clin d’oeil (a “wink”) towards la Coupe du Monde. Here is an example of a coach becoming “fêlé” because of his team: In this case, it’s the Italian Fabio Capello, the England coach, nearly losing his mind during the game against the Algerian Fennecs.Is he screaming: “Pass the ball” or asking for a “Pasta Bowl“ (anyone?)

Tags: Angleterre, argot, assurancetourix, asterix et obelix, b.a.-ba de l'argot, ce n'est pas sorcier, coupe du monde, deglingue, dephase, desaxe, dingue, disjoncte, fabio capello, facile comme bonjour, fan, fana, fastoche, fauche, faux jeton, fele, Fennecs, foldingue, French slang, joe le taxi, l'ecole des fans, maboul, malade, pasta bowl, sonne, timbre, toto, vanessa paradis, world cup, zinzin

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