To ask what your favourite French words and expressions are?

[WellAlwaysHaveParis]

Very random AIBU, but I’d be interested to find out: what are your favourite French words and expressions? :)

I’m restarting a weekly post on French expressions for my blog on French language and culture, and I’ve run out of inspiration

Shameless plug alert.... if you’d like to know more about the blog or if you or anyone you know might like to contribute to it, please let me know on here or via private message :)

and are all up for grabs as prizes for the best words

An exclamation of surprise that’s a bit stronger than “Eh bah, dis-donc!” is my favourite:
“N’importe quoi!”

Haha I love ‘dis-donc’ 😂 oh and ‘flagada’ or ‘raplapla’, which are both informal ways of saying that you’re really tired.

@thugmansion 😂😂

il y a du monde au balcon

Shouldn't it be elle a le monde au balcon ?

I like

cela ne fait rien - it doesn't matter

and

amuse bouche - a lovely way to start a meal, something to tickle the taste-buds

Love the expression for 'the lav'

Les Waters (said with a French accent Wah-terre)

I think half of my papa's input in conversations is bof, grunts and shoulder shrugging.
Frequently reading threads on here, I think of " les bons comptes font les bons amis" ( good accounts make good friends), generally ones about cf friends that don't pay their way/ ask to borrow money and not repay, ...

Le coeur au bord des levres , feeling sick

@daisy
“Shouldn't it be elle a le monde au balcon”
No, first because that means “she has the world on her balcony”, and secondly it’s too literal. I think it works better to say “it’s busy on the balcony” (il y a du monde = it’s busy, or there are a lot of people... il y a = there are)

I heard the word ‘canapé clic-clac’ for the first time the other day, which I really like :) it means ‘sofa bed’ apparently.

Oui mais non.
Ta geule !

Ti think my favourite single word is clebs as in short for clébard, a scruffy mutt.

I like the fact that a French letter is known as a capote anglaise

Also, “filer a l’anglaise” means leaving without saying goodbye ... what a reputation to have!

Ha yes I like that one too. To be fair I do hate long drawn out goodbyes, especially with the French who insist on kissing everyone all over again and it takes for ever. So I am sometimes tempted to slink away! Must be my Englishness

Ah yes, the kissing - and the number of kisses varies according to the region. I met someone recently who does five (!) but I forget where she’s from —a shame because I’d like to avoid that area—
It must take hours to leave a party there

Also, “filer a l’anglaise” means leaving without saying goodbye ... what a reputation to have!

Haha Finnegan I’ve just realised we say French leave for that

Actually I really hate the whole kissing thing when it’s a big gathering and there are people you have never met before and will never meet again but you still have to bloody kiss them all. I don’t mind bises when it’s actual friends and family - or new people I am actually going to talk to - but if it’s just random strangers who are just going to stick to their group while you stick to yours, it’s completely pointless sharing of germs and awkwardness.

Bof!

and

Donc!

faut pas pousser meme dans les orties
don't push it!
roughly You should not/ don't push granny in the stinging nettles

Les chiens font pas des chats.

Je pète le feu.

Faire la pie crevée.

Comme une poule qui a trouver un couteau.

Une patte dans la vide et l'autre sur rien.

J'en ai ras-le-bol!

I of-it have scrape-the-bowl!

Everything's gone, I've run out of patience. I quit!

Dogs don't make cats so kids are like their parents.

Farting fire means you're on form

Magpie playing dead then up and off when you think you've got it.

Chicken finding a knife is when some is open mouthed in surprise about something.

Rouler quelqu'un dans la farine

To roll someone in the flour. It means to dupe or swindle someone. I like thinking it's what you say to a little fish, come on, it'll be fun. Meanwhile the frying pan is warming up. (It's French, there's food involved.)

I love roulette quelqu'un dans la farine!! I must find a way to use it