French Language Blog

You wouldn’t really stand la moindre chance (the slightest chance) to understand a French movie, or get an idea of what folks talking around you in the street or in the cafés when you go visit or live in France, if you don’t already know the meaning of some *must-know* mots et experssions argotiques  (slang words and expressions). That’s why the TRASNPARENT French Blog, le B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang) secures you more than just a fighting chance to actually do it!

Here all the links to the previous posts, published so far in alphabetical order:

* B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘A’ (the ABC of French Slang: ‘A’)
* B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘B’ (the ABC of French Slang: ‘B’)
* B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘B’ [Cont.] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘B’ [Cont.])
* “C comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘C’)
* “C comme…(Ça Continue!)” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘C’ [cont.])
* “D comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘D’)
* “E comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘E’)
* “F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [1] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [1]) 
* “F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [2] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [2])

“G comme…” (“G as in…”)

* GAGA:
If you hear a French talk about some lady being a bit “gaga“, chances are, he or she’s most likely isn’t referring to the famous pop star singer…
Just as it’s the case for its English counterpart, in French, to be “gaga” means to be senile.

* GALÈRE: 
As in “Quelle galère!” Galère means “a long and often painful hard work.” Therefore, the verb galérer means “to have a hard time.” Par exemple (for example): “Ah là là, j’ai vraiment galéré pour venir ici!” (“I had a real hard time to get here!”)

Another example of the use of the word galère can be found in this youtube video, coming to you straight from la France profonde (the “deep France”), experssing the social malaise that is generally felt these days in France:

* GAMIN:
Meaning a “young boy”, “a young lad”. For a “young girl”, you’d say une gamine. It can also be said about someone who’s immature, no matter how old they are…
A synonym of gamin that you should also remember is môme.

Here’s a song by Yves Montand called “Un gamin de Paris“:

* GÉANT:
Just replace the “É” with “I” and you got the English meaning: Giant. “C’est géant!” meaning “it’s awesome!”

           A French commercial of “GÉANT VERT!”

À cause du Mondial (because of the World Cup), we took une pause from our series of French Slang.
Today, we continue with the second part of la lettre F.
Remember that we have so far covered the letters A, B, C, D, and E:
* B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘A’ (the ABC of French Slang: ‘A’)
* B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘B’ (the ABC of French Slang: ‘B’)
* B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘B’ [Cont.] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘B’ [Cont.])
* “C comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘C’)
* “C comme…(Ça Continue!)” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘C’ [cont.])
* “D comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘D’)
* “E comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot (the ABC of French Slang: ‘E’)
* “F comme…” B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘F’ [1] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘F’ [1]) 

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http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39r

* FILER À L’ANGLAISE: 
Depending on which side of la Manche (the English Channel, that is), you either say “filer à l’Anglaise“, or, conversely, “take the French Leave.” The expression means to ”jump ship.” Another close expression is ”fausser compagnie à quelqu’un“, like ”leaving under a cloud”!

* FIN DES HARICOTS:
“The end of beans” in French simply means “the End”, when it’s all over. Exemple, “Vous voulez dire qu’en 2012, ce sera la fin des haricots?” (“So you mean that it’s all gonna be over in 2012?”) 
  

* FILS À PAPA:
Or “Daddy’s boy”, close in meaning to some kind of a spoiled, silver-spoon fed child.
Similarly, you can also say that someone is “un fils à maman” (Mommy’s boy!)
Check in the video below la volte-face (the about-face) of the recruiter when he finds out that the job seeker is a fils à papa, and that the papa in question is none other than the PDG (CEO) of the company…   

 

* FLANCHER:
Synonymous to “jeter l’éponge” (“to throw the sponge”), meaning to give up. 

* FLEMME:
“Avoir la flemme” means to feel totally lazy, like not doing anything at all. You can also say “tirer sa flemme”, meaning to take it easy and relax. Both expressions “avoir la flemme” and “tirer sa flemme” are used in this French song:
 

* FLIC:
Un or une flic means “a cop.” Like we saw in B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘A’ (the ABC of French Slang: ‘A’), ”Deux Flics à Miami“, meaning “Two Cops in Miami”, is the French title of the 80′s series ”Miami Vice.” 
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8bswp

* FLIPPER:

It’s spelled the same way as the name of le gentil dauphin (the nice dolphin), but it means to get stressed out, or “worked out” about something. The adjective flippant, however, means “creepy.” For example, ”Ce film est vraiment  flippant” (“This movie is really creepy.”) 

* FLUTE!
Most new French learners know “zut!” or “zut alors!”, as in “darn!” or “shoot!”, but more common of an intejection is “mince!”
“Flute” is also as rarely used as “darn” in English, but it’s useful to know what it stands for if you happen to hear it.  

* SE FOURRER:
To be dead wrong about something; to be mistaken. 

* FOUTAISE:
Total nonsense. You can also say “des salades“ , as in “ce ne sont que des salades!”

* FRANGIN:
Frangin means “bro”, as in brother. Related to it is the word “fréro“, which is reserved for your little brother.
Here’s the trailer of the movie “Frangins malgré eux”— which is the French title of the Will Ferrell comedy “Step Brothers.”
Check it out, it’s dubbed in French!

* FRIC:
Money, dough, or ”ca$h”, as in the Euro “FRI€.“, which we’ve already seen in “YELLE (à tue-tête) if you like “le FRI€” the TTC way.”  

* FRIGO:
Like the English “fridge”, Frigo is a French shorthand for refrigirator. 

* FRIME
La frime is the noun which gives us a “frimeur“, that is someone who’s a show-off.
Par exemple: The character Mickael Vendetta is a frimeur wanna-be. Remember him from ”B.A.-BA de l’Argot: ‘B’ [Cont.] (the ABC of French Slang: ‘B’ [Cont.])“   
  

* FRINGUES:
Les fringues mean clothes. Another argot synonym of fringues is fripes.
 

 * FURAX:
Être furax comes from furieux, meaning furious. You can also say “disjoncter“, “perdre la boule“, or the more often used nowadays, ”péter un câble” or “péter les plombs.”

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!)

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“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?)