Learn québécois « Quebec Culture Blog

RadioEGO – Québec’s audio equivalent of a “Talk-radio YouTube” (#267)

May 14, 2015 1:46 pm / Leave a comment

This post can help to provide you with additional audio material if :

You are looking for various opinion-pieces to help round out your views about what many people are talking about in Québec, and

If you are learning French, working to improve your French, or are are looking to improve your comprehension of (a) informal French, (b) Joual, (c) street expressions, (d) every-day colloquial accents.

RadioEGO (Ego Radio) is a website which accepts and collates submissions of short radio segments and interviews from around Québec’s world of radio – be it mainstream professional radio stations, or amateur web-based “radio” stations. The segments are made available for everyone to listen to.

In this sense, RadioEGO could be the equivalent of a “Québec Radio YouTube”.

The website is http://www.radioego.com/

When you open the main page, you will notice it is divided into three sections. You can chose segments from any of the three sections. There is also a “search” option for any topic of your choice (just like YouTube). You can open additional pages at the bottom of each of the three main sections.

If you search for “culture”, for example, you will get a ton of segments. The results can be quite varied (ie: an interview with the minister of culture, or a segment about a cut in funding to a music conservatory, or perhaps a segment about a summer concert, etc.). The same goes for any type of topic search.

A growing number of people have started their own “amature” radio stations – and they turn to RadioEGO as a platform on which to post various segments of their radio programs.

There are also other people who are well-known to the public (such as the columnist and blogger Joanne Marcotte) who are regularly invited guests on mainstream radio stations (such as Québec City’s CHOI FM), and who also post their radio-segments on RadioEGO’s website.

Certain mainstream radio stations, such as talk radio Radio9 in Montréal, talk radio CHOI FM (Radio X) in Québec City, 93FM (Québec City), CKOI FM (Montréal) will also post segments of their radio programs (there are other mainstream radio stations which also post their segments)

What is good about this website is that you can sift through tons of radio segments to listed precise topics of interest.

Example: Let’s say you’ve been following the Parti Québécois leadership race… you may find the radio interviews of Pierre Karle Péladeau, Bernard Drainville, or Alexandre Cloutier to be of interest (all three were leadership contenders). The audio segments have self-evident titles “Interview with Alexandre Cloutier” or “PKP” or “Drainville”. The date is provided, as well as the number of other people who have listened to the audio clip (ie: if you see that 3500 other people have listened to the clip in the last week, chances are that the clip is much more interesting than one which was listened to by only 15 listeners).

Topics are all over the map: Politics, sports, society, and economics – you name it.

A WORD OF CAUTION: The contributors are radio columnists/opinion-makers. None of the programs are to be considered unbiased or objective (although you will run across some interviews and programs which try to bring a more balanced approach). The website is open to all who wish to contribute their radio programs and segments, but the tendency is that programs are most often a bit towards the right (although there are programs / segments which are a bit more in the centre, and sometimes further on the left end of the spectrum).

With that said, I think there is still something for everyone. I’m a firm believer that it’s always good to listen to all points of view from all over the spectrum. That’s how you round out and form your own views, thus allowing you to feel better informed and more comfortable in your own viewpoints.

Bonne écoute !!!

Gettin’ vulgar! This ain’t no picture book for the kiddies! – Part 6 (#244)

April 17, 2015 11:50 am / Leave a comment

The past five posts explored our swear words in French. In my opinion, they are one of the most unique and instantly recognizable things about Canada and Québec.

If you’d like a little visual context regarding their origins, here is a little picture dictionary I threw together (seriously… who out there does not like pictures?).

But this little picture-dictionary is not the type you’ll find on the shelves of the elementary school library.

Hopefully you found this six-part series on obscenities to be interesting… and I hope it didn’t send you into convulsions, or lead to you being struck with a lightning bolt as you read it. (If you did get hit by lightning, sorry about that — but the new hair style is all the rage these days!)

I’ll be better behaved for the next posts (promise) 😉

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SERIES: QUÉBEC AND CANADIAN FRENCH SWEAR WORDS (6 POSTS)

Gettin’ down ‘n vulgar! – Swears SAI to V – Part 5 (#243)

April 17, 2015 11:38 am / Leave a comment

WARNING: These few posts are not suitable for minors. They contain quite explicit vocabulary.

This post gives the remaining list of common French swear words you’ll likely encounter in Québec and elsewhere in Canada.

At this point I’d like to share a little anecdote. I wish to provide you with yet one more reason why it is important to understand the nature of these words and to be able to recognize them (and use them properly, or avoid using them altogether).

My university was a Francophone university in Edmonton (Le Campus St-Jean, which operates as its own university, although it was affiliated with the U of A). A portion of the student body was made up of Anglophones, in addition to the pan-Canadian and international Francophone student body.

In our demographics course we were given a large research assignment which took a year to complete. It was a killer of an assignment, and everyone worked themselves into the ground. D-Day came, and the professor handed back our assignment grade results one-by-one.

One Anglophone student in our class had a fairly good level of French (good enough to do her university studies 100% in French), but she had some difficulties with informal spoken French (she spoke literary French, since that is the French she learned in school). I recall she was afraid she was going to fail the assignment. But when she received her paper back with an “A”, she yelled out (in French) to the professor “F*** me!! I got an “A”! I didn’t see that coming!” (Mon câlisse de sacrement! J’ai poigné un A!! J’en reviens pas!!!)

OOOOOPS!!!! I don’t think that’s what she meant to say. I think she wanted to use a word which meant “WOW!” or something like that — but that’s not how it came out. She basically mixed up the swear words and chose the wrong ones. Thank goodness she already received her grade (The professor looked less than impressed after he got over his initial look of shock).

Moral of the story: Just because you hear other people say words which add “emphasis” on a regular basis, do not attempt them yourself unless you truly know what they mean. In other words, become familiar with the list of words I’m providing to you before you attempt to use any of them yourself. 🙂

A short reminder before we get back into it…

NOTE 1: In the examples below, it is difficult to give an exact translation for every word. I’ve therefore given the closest approximates with respect to their degree of impact. That is why I list more than one English equivalent after most words.

NOTE 2: Underneath the main words, I also list the “toned-down / softened” versions of the words. These are versions of the main swear word which are considered to be milder, and more acceptable to a wider audience. In English, the equivalent might be the transformation of “F&@#” to “Fudge”, or “Damn” to “Darn” (the latter words which could be acceptable, even on television).

THE FINAL LIST: SAI to V (the end)

Saint bénisse – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint Christ – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint ciboire – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint ciboire aux deux étages – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint esprit – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint hostie – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint PKP – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint sacrament – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint sacrifice – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint sacripant – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint sicrisse – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint sicroche – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saint tabarnac – Christ almighty! Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Sainte – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Sainte viarge – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Saintosti – Christ almighty!, Christ!, Jesus Christ!

Salament – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Saprement – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Shit – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Simonac – Son of a gun!, Shit!, Damn!

This one is quite common (perhaps in the top 10). You will even hear it on the radio.

TABARNAK – The King of all swear words.

This is the WORST and STRONGEST swear word you can possibly say in Québec and Canada – period.

I would even venture to say it’s stronger than the English F-word.

It is best to avoid this word altogether unless you break your toe, your dog gets ran over, you accidentally shoot your best friend in a hunting accident, or you accidentally fall down a man-hole when walking down the street.

Personally, (and contrary to what you might be thinking) I don’t swear very much, but I will pitch some of the milder swears from time-to-time… And all-in-all, it does not bother me much when others occasionally swear (we’re all human after all). Nor does it bother me when I hear this word in mild moderation. But there are those individuals out there who seem to chose to insert this word between every third word from their mouth (you know the type… there are also these types of people in English who drop the F-bomb five times in every sentence – sentence after sentence).

Saying this word in excess will just make you look like the dumbest of idiots. If you want to be labelled a crass, uncouth and uncivilized hick, by all means feel free to use this word. But be prepared to suffer the consequences and be judged by those around you.

My recommendation: Use some of the “softer” versions of the word below. Some are completely unoffensive, and are regularly heard on the radio, TV, by politicians, and yes, even Celine Dion has been heard to say them in public with a smile. The most common one is “Tabarwatte“. The next most common “softened” version is “Tabernouche“.

Barnak
Barnaque
Barnique
Barouette
Batarnak
Kakernak
Tab
Taber
Tabarnache
Tabarnam
Tabarnik
Tabarnouche
Tabarouatte
Tabarsac
Tabarslac
Tabarwatte
Tabernache
Tabernouche
Taboire

Tabarnak aux deux étages – “F*** it all to hell!” STRONG, AVOID if at all possible.

Tabarnak percé – “For F***’s sake”, “F*** it!”. STRONG, AVOID if possible

Torvice – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Torgieu
Torna
Tornon
Toron
Torrienne
Torrieu
Torvis
Toryabe

Trou de cul – Ass hole.

Exact same meaning, emphasis and poignancy as it’s English counterpart.

Trou de PQ

Vas te crosser avec une poignée de clous – F*** off!

(litterally: go jack off with a handful of nails)

Vas te crosser avec une poignée de clous rouillés – F*** off!

(litterally: go jack off with a handful of rusty nails)

Vas te crosser avec une poignée de poignée de braquettes – F*** off!

(litterally: go jack off with a handful of gears)

Vas te faire chier – Screw off!

(litterally: “Go shit”, or “Go shit yourself!”)

Vas te faire – Screw off!

(litterally: Go do yourself!)

Viarge – God damn it!, For Christ’s sake!

Vargenie
Viargenie

Varlope – Son of a bitch!, Shit!, F***!

Verasse – Son of a bitch!, Shit!, Damn it!

Véreux

Verrat – Son of a bitch!, Shit!, Damn it!

Vérue

Viande à chien – Piece of shit

Tas de merde
Tas de marde

—– —– —– —– —– —– —–

That wraps up the vocabulary list. Hopefully it will help you to navigate swear words in oral French which you are likely to encounter when listening to people on the street.

I have one last post for you in this series… a “picture-post” if you will. See you soon!

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SERIES: QUÉBEC AND CANADIAN FRENCH SWEAR WORDS (6 POSTS)

Gettin’ down ‘n vulgar! – Swears M to SAC – Part 4 (#242)

April 17, 2015 5:00 am / Leave a comment

WARNING: These few posts are not suitable for minors. They contain quite explicit vocabulary.

Let us continue our little adventure down the road of French swear words. They are something which certainly adds more than just a little colour to our French in Canada and Québec.

Apart from informal talk between friends and peers, you will also tend to hear them used extensively in stand-up comedy, movies (dramas, and especially comedy movies), and literature which features Joual.

You may recall the earlier post on Elvis Gratton. When watching the Elvis Gratton movies and television series, you would almost get the impression that every third word uttered was a vulgarity in some form or another.

I find it unfortunate when I hear learners of French say they have a difficult time understanding us in French when the language level becomes a bit more informal. Of course, one reason is the structure and vocabulary used in Joual, but vulgarities and obscenities (swear words) certainly can throw a person off if you’re not familiar with them.

Hopefully these few posts give you some context and help to fill some of the missing gaps (I actually find it kind of awkard to write about this topic… it’s rarely written about in any depth – but all the more reason for me to cover it, and for you to hopefully find it useful 😉 ).

Reminder notes:

NOTE 1: In the examples below, it is difficult to give an exact translation for every word. I’ve therefore given the closest approximates with respect to their degree of impact. That is why I list more than one English equivalent after most words.

NOTE 2: Underneath the main words, I also list the “toned-down / softened” versions of the words. These are versions of the main swear word which are considered to be milder, and more acceptable to a wider audience. In English, the equivalent might be the transformation of “F&@#” to “Fudge”, or “Damn” to “Darn” (the latter words which could be acceptable, even on television).

THE LIST: M to SAC

Marde – Shit!, Damn it! Crap!

This one is interesting because it is softer than “shit” in English (which is “Merde” in French). “Marde” is also softer than “Merde” — soft enough to the extent that you will hear it on television and the radio. It also is used in many expressions:

“Un tas de marde” (a pile of crap),
“C’est de la marde” (it’s crap),
“Toute cette marde” (all this crap),
“Marde!” (Crap!, Damn!, Shit!).

I recommend that you try your best to replace “Merde” with “Marde” as much as possible. It sounds better and less offensive.

Maudite merde – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Maudit – Shit!, Damn it!, Crap!, God damn it!, Piss!

This is one of the most common curse words out there… Right up there in the top five.

Mardi
Marois grand P
Maudasse
Maudine
Mausus
Mautadit
Morpion
Morsac
Motadit
Saudit
Saudine
Sautadites
Zaudit

Maudit bâtard – Damned bastard / F’ing bastard!

A bit Stronger — AVOID if possible, because it is a direct insult.

Although “Maudit” is not so serious of a word when said on its own, if you add “bâtard” after it, you’re looking for trouble (especially if you call someone this).

Maudit calvaire – For Christ’s Sake!, For F’in Sake!

RATHER STRONG, Recommend not using it.

Merde – Shit!

See “Marde” above. It’s stronger than “Marde”, and roughly the exact same meaning, impact, and degree of acceptability (or non-acceptability) as “shit” in English. This is also one of the most common curse words (likely in the top five).

Moses – Christ!, Damn it!, Shit!

Mosus

Mon… XXX – Used to form “self-curses” by placing “Mon” in front of the curse word.

In English, there are four levels of “self-curses” which are used to give emphasis. Examples:

Least offensive could be “My Goodness”.
One level up might be “My bloody luck”.
A level higher might be “I’ll be damned”.
The most offensive level would be “F*** me!”

French also has similar levels of “self-curses”. Examples:

Mon bonjour!
Mon bon Dieu!
Mon ciboire!
“Mon Tabar*** !” or “Mon Câlisse!”.

The rule is this: In Canadian French, you can pretty much add “Mon” in front of any Canadian-specific obscenity (it will work 90% of the time). The more offensive the word to which “mon” is added, the stronger the message. Exception: You generally can NOT add “Mon” in front of most swear words which also exist in Europe (ie: It does NOT work to say “Mon maudit”, “Mon pute”, “Mon foutre”, etc.)

Noune – Cuss word for vagina.

It is not quite as bad as saying “C$#%” (female genetalia) in English, but it certainly is harsher than saying “Pussy”. It’s sort of half way between. In Europe they say “chatte” (a female cat) – which can sometimes also be heard on this side of the Atlantic.

The funny thing is that there is even a well-known, comical song parody using this word (it has gone viral in Québec). You can listen to it by going to its YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYcq4nGeYu0

Ostensoir – Shit!, Damn it!, Crap!, God damn it!, Piss!

Ostensoir à pédale – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Patente à gosse! – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Sacré – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Sacre bleu – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Sacréfisse – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Sacrement – F***!, Jesus f***ing Christ! Quite Strong.

Generally do not use this unless you are on familiar territory with the person you are speaking. However, this word has lost much of its punch over the last couple of decades (it was considered much stronger when I was a child than what it is now).

Sacrement de fesses!
Sacarment
Sace
Sacidoux
Sacramère
Sacripant

Sacrifice – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

The funny thing is that I used to say this one quite a bit in my teens, but I don’t anymore. I suppose the older I got, the more I realized it sounds fairly uncouth. But I do sometimes say the softer “Saint-Sacrifice!”.

—– —– —– —– —– —– —–

The list will continue in the next post. Hold your tongue until then !!

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SERIES: QUÉBEC AND CANADIAN FRENCH SWEAR WORDS (6 POSTS)

Gettin’ down ‘n vulgar! – Swears CI to J – Part 3 (#241)

April 16, 2015 10:42 am / Leave a comment

WARNING: These few posts are not suitable for minors. They contain quite explicit vocabulary.

This is the 3^rd post in a multi-post series on our French swear words. A couple of things to note…

There are people want to see this series — I have received a couple of emails with questions regarding French swear words. Thus I am presenting them in an objective format, considering there is not much comprehensive information out there – especially for language learners. It all constitutes an aspect of culture (albeit a bit more “twisted” aspect of culture). 😉

NOTE 1: In the examples below, it is difficult to give an exact translation for every word. I’ve therefore given the closest approximates with respect to their degree of impact. That is why I list more than one English equivalent after most words.

NOTE 2: Underneath the main words, I also list the “toned-down / softened” versions of the words. These are versions of the main swear word which are considered to be milder, and more acceptable to a wider audience. In English, the equivalent might be the transformation of “F&@#” to “Fudge”, or “Damn” to “Darn” (the latter words which could be acceptable, even on television).

THE LIST CI – J

Ciboire – Shit!, Piss!, Damn it!, God damn it!

This one is a bit interesting. It is said quite often, but it has a very “hick” tone to it. It’s certainly not the worst of the swears, but it’s perhaps a couple notches higher up the offensive scale than mere “mild”. That may be the reason we hear it often on the street, but not on television or the radio. Yet, some of the substitutes below can be heard on the radio and television (“cibole” is the most common softened substitute in all circumstances).

Câliboire
Cibolaque
Cibole
Cibonte
Ciboulette
Ciboule
Ciboulot
Cinliboire
Gériboire
Liboire
Siblème

Cinclème – For crying out loud!, Christ!

Cré – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Crétaque

Cré maudit – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Cré tornon – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Criffe – Christ!, Cripes!, For Christ/Cripes sake!

Crime (also “Crim”) – Christ!, Cripes!, For Christ/Cripes sake!, Adds EMPHASIS

This one is said quite often. I would said its impact is closer to “Cripes” than it is to “Christ”. Therefore it is acceptable to use in general conversation, even with your boss. Now that I think of it, I say it quite a bit – perhaps more than any other “sacre”.

You’ll often hear it at the beginning of sentences to add a tad of extra punch to what is being said… it adds general EMPHASIS.

Here are some examples to let you see what I mean (don’t be afraid to use this one… it’s rather OK):

“Crime! Il fait beau dehors!” (Wow, it’s a beautiful day today).
“Crime! J’ai pas pensé à ça!” (Man! I didn’t think of that!).
“Crime! Il conduit mal!” (Holy smokes! He’s a bad driver!).
“Crime! Il a raté le but!” (Cripes! He missed the goal!)
“Crime! Elle a faillit bercher une bonne!” (Whoa! She just about took a tumble!)
“Crime! Qu’y sont sérieux” (Geez! They’re really serious!)
“Crime!” (Whoa!), (Cripes!)

Crisse – Get the F*** out!, Don’t give a F****!, F***ing angry!, Shit!

When used on its own, it only means “Shit!”.

When used in other contexts, it needs to be inserted in a a sentence:

Je m’en crisse (I don’t give a shit / F***!)
Crisses-toi d’ici (Get the F*** out of here!)
Ch’en crisse! (I’m pissed/angry!)

Crucifix – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Damn – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Enfant de chienne – Son of a bitch!, Shit!, F***!

Personally, I would avoid saying this. It sounds vulgar, likely because it is not as common as you would think (less common = it gets more attention when said). There are so many other words out there which can be used to express the imperative “Son of a bitch!” Generally speaking, any of the words which have the same impact as “Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!” also can be used if you wish to give the same impact as the imperative “Son of a bitch!”.

However, if you specifically wish to call someone a “son of a bitch”, then you could use this expression (in France & Europe they would say “fils de pute/putain”).

Enfant de chishe
Enfant de nanane
Enfant de néanne
Enfant de nénane

Esprit – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Étoile – Damn!, Cripes!

Eucharistie – Shit!, Damn it!, God damn it!, Piss!

Caresse
Eucharesse

Fuck – Damn!, Damn it!, God damn it!

This word is quite interesting when said in French versus in English. It is not nearly as bad in French as in English.

You will even hear it said often enough on French-language radio. The CRTC (Canada’s federal government body which regulates what is and is not acceptable to say over the airwaves) does not consider “FUCK” to be a “bad word” when inserted in French sentences. Ironic, isn’t it? I surprisingly hear it on the radio.

Nonetheless, you may wish to be careful when you decide in which “region” to say it in Québec. It does not sound very nice when inserted in general French-language conversation in Montréal, simply because there is a higher concentration of Anglophones in Montréal versus other regions of Québec. Personally, I choose not to say it when speaking French, but it doesn’t bother me when others do (it’s all in the context).

HOSTIE – Jesus f’ing christ!, For F*** sake! Rather strong.

Try to avoid it in general conversation unless you are on very familiar terms with the person which whom you are speaking. Personally, I rarely even use the “softened-down” words below, unless I know the person very well, or unless the “softened” word is quite different from the original swear word (such as “stie”, or “Ostination”.

It’s just best to avoid it unless your French is at an advanced or native level (and best to only say among friends, close peers and family).

Esti
Hastie
Hostie au lard
Hostie fee
Hostination (this can also be a noun which means “Connerie” or “Crap” / “Rigamarole” in English… “Toute cette hostination”)
Hostique
Ostie
Ostination (this can also be a noun which means “Connerie” or “Crap” / “Rigamarole” in English… “Toute cette ostination”)
Stie

Jésus-christ – Jesus Christ!, Christ!, God damn it!

Jésome
Jésus de plâtre

Joualvert – Cripes!, Damn it! (soft enough you’ll hear it on the radio).

—– —– —– —– —– —–

Crime! J’dirais que ça roule presque! Pas vrai? I’ll see you soon with continued posts in this mini-series on swears.

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SERIES: QUÉBEC AND CANADIAN FRENCH SWEAR WORDS (6 POSTS)

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