Building on the last few posts, here is another post with more regional vocabulary & expressions — this time from the Saguenay Lac St-Jean region.  You can refer to the map in the previous post to see where this vocabulary primarily comes from.

The vocabulary is presented in the following format:

Word “X”  (this will be the word or expression which is most apt to be heard in the Saguenay Lac St-Jean Region)

• Word “Y”(this would be the equivalent which could be heard more in the Montréal region or province-wide).  I will also include the English equivalent as well as reference notes.

In this sense, this list can be considered a comparison of French from the Saguenay Lac St-Jean region versus from the Montréal region.

As I said before, keep in mind that there is NO hard and fast rule about this vocabulary (we’re very much in the realm of lose oral colloquialisms).  Things change with time, some of these words and expressions may not always be said by the majority, the areas they’re restricted to may have fuzzy borders (therefore you may hear these words outside this region).  As well, individuals may say things differently.

Below is some vocabulary from the Saguenay Lac St-Jean region.

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beigne, une

• un beigne = doughnut.  You’ll recall from the prior “Québec City” vocabulary, there was a “masculine / feminine” difference for buses and french fries between Québec City and Montréal.  Here we have another gender difference between Saguenay Lac St-Jean and Montréal, but this time with doughnuts.

cotteur

• chaîne de troittoir, chaîne de rue = the curb (of the road), edge of the road, side of the road

durex, du

• papier collant = scotch tape (note, not a condom)

expression:  A’Jaie pantoute

• J’en ai pas.  I don’t have any.  The addition of “A” at the front makes this a bit more local (versus J’ai pantoute which is said everywhere in Québec and everywhere in Canada).

expression:  painter les rubbers

• shine the wheels of your car

expression:  Prendre une petite frette

• To have a cold one (beer). This one you will hear elsewhere, but perhaps more so in Saguenay Lac St-Jean (I’ve heard it other places… and I say it myself as part of my own vocabulary.  You’ll hear it in Montréal, Ottawa/Gatineau and elsewhere, but I think it’s quite “standard” in Saguenay Lac St-Jean).

expression:  rester en rack

• tomber en panne = to be out of order, to break down (most often referring to cars, but can be for other mechanical things also).

Flo

• youngsters, kid, teenager. When you were an adolescent, you could say “mon gang de flos” = my gang at school [of young people]. (in Montréal, we’d generally just say “des jeunes” or “des ados“)

frite, un

• an order of french fries (mostly “des frites” in Montréal).

frock, une

• un manteau = a coat

gang de rotteux

• coffee gang, coffee group, the same set of people you often whittle the time away with (des gens avec qui tu pottines la demi-journée). Mon gang de rotteux = “my coffee group” or “my usual gang” (doesn’t always have to be coffee… can just be for hanging out, etc.)

gesteuse, gesteux (a term more specific to the city of Dolbeau-Mistassini)

• someone overly dramatic (someone who exaggerates a bit too much for the purpose of stretching things or getting attention… perhaps a drama queen in English, but applicable to women and men).

kelouwer

• clouer = to pound a nail (with a hammer). The “e” right after the “k” is pronounced.

palteau

• manteau = coat. (mettre ton palteau = put on your coat)

patalons, des

• des pantalons = pants

patate à frite

• hasbrown.  (M’a prendre une patat’à frite = I’ll take a hashbrown)

pitoune

• a bunch of wood, i.e.: perhaps a floating bunch of wood on a lake or river. (It doesn’t mean a nice looking woman in this case, which is another province-wide meaning).

seeyow

• siau = a bucket

trôler

• bar-hop. Vas-tu trôler à soir?  (trôler in Montréal means to trole online, like in English).

trôleuse

• Shrek’s wife (KIDDING!! But you paused for a second, didn’t you !?!).  Trôleuse is actually an old regional term for a bar table.

une soute (ie: un soute de ski-doo)

• un habit de neige = a snow suite (one piece)

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That has is for the vocabulary and expressions which  I know of from the Saguenay Lac St-Jean region.   However, this is a region rich in many other expressions and vocabulary, much of which I do not know or am unfamiliar with.   With that being said, there is more information online regarding this region’s own vocabulary than there is regarding any other region in Québec (with the exception of Montréal).  If you spend some times surfing the web, I’m sure you’ll be able to find more than what I’m able to offer.

I just did a quick 30 second web-search, and these two web-sites popped up at the top of the page:

• http://dralloc.chez.com/expressions.html
• http://www.saguenaylacsaintjean.ca/fr/informations/langage_regional

The next post will be our last one on regional vocabulary.  See you soon!

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SERIES:  “REGIONAL” VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS (6 POSTS)

• “Regional” Vocabulary and Expressions within Québec – Introduction (#169) – PART 1
• “Regional” Vocabulary and Expressions – Québec City Region –  A to E  (#170) – PART 2
• “Regional” Vocabulary and Expressions – Québec City Region – F to Z (#171) – PART 3
• “Regional” Vocabulary and Expressions – La Beauce Region (#172) – PART 4
• “Regional” Vocabulary and Expressions – Saguenay Lac St-Jean (#173) – PART 5
• “Regional” Vocabulary and Expressions – Other Regions of Québec (#174) – PART 6