Pardon my French

The other day, I was chatting with American friends. Someone was speaking about her boss, and at some point, as you can imagine, a bad word materialized in the middle of the conversation. For the record, it was 'bitch'.

And what came immediatly after this? Well, yes, you are right, and the title probably helped: "Pardon my French".

But then, some folks realized I was French, and started apologizing. They thought this was very offensive to associate French with bad words, and some even went as far as expressing their disapproval for that expression.

That was one of these moments when I am left dizzy thinking of the extent of the gap between our cultures.

The fact is that French does have a lot of slang, and that we are proud of it. It seems to me that we are one of the most active language on that front, and one hint is the rate at which French slang becomes obsolete. If you go to France, don't throw in some of the French slang words you know if you learned them some 20 years ago, because you will sparkle some heavy laughter and get severly taunted in the current French slang.

Now, their is a huge cultural gap between American and French people as to what slang means and is used for.

In a nutshell: for Americans, slang is used by people to sound either cool or offensive. Most slang words are sexual in nature. The cornerstone word here is obviously 'fuck': a English to slang English dictionary would read: car = fucking car, nose = fucking nose, foot = fucking foot, boxer short = fucking boxer fucking short.

For French folks, slang is just a set of alternative words for every day, casual conversations. They are used by mostly everybody (and notably by our dear president), and yes, even by my mother, and if you have to know, even by my mother's mother (although the 20 year rule I mentioned implies that I am left mostly blank when she curses). And although we certainly have slang words for all sexual topics, as I guess any other language in the world does, French has the particularity of having slang words for virtually anything else -- and these words would not necessarly have an offensive implication. Sometimes they even sound cute, or just funny. By contrast, then, a French to French argot dictionary would read: car = bagnole, caisse, nose = pif, tarbouif, foot = panard, peton, boxer short = calbute.

And as a disclaimer, I would stamp this slang with a 'circa 1990' label. As for wine, don't trust French slang without a date label.

Slang is definitely an important part of the French language. My mother, for instance, is a slang encyclopedia on her own. From early morning, when she gets out of the pieu, till the evening in front of the téloche, the day with her is a continuous and charming display of a French you won't find in your language book. Being a teacher, it has always been a mystery, and quite frankly, a source of concern for me how she could switch back to textbook French twice a week in front of her students. But then again, we don't have that much slang for chemistry.

Growing up in such a vocabulary-wise diverse environment, I naturally caught up most of the slang. And that's were the cultural gap is: if asked, my mother would tell you she is proud of me.

I could not speak about French slang without mentionning particular one, the verlan, which stands for (à) l'envers (meaning 'backwards') when read... backwards. Indeed, the rule of this particular kind of slang is to speak words backwards, syllable-wise. So, Français (French) becomes Céfran, méchant ('mean', or 'cool') becomes chanmé, lourd becomes relou, etc. Sometimes, verlan holds on words that are already slang words, like keum, which is the verlan of mec which is the slang for 'guy'. I even heard people talking about feumeu, which turned out to the verlan for meuf... which is already the verlan for femme (woman)!

And of course, slang comes with different regional flavors. Marseilles is known for having quite a few slang words of their own, for instance.

At this point, and since you are a regular reader, you are now thinking: "Hey! Slang being so extensive and popular, that's certainly something that should piss the Académiciens off!".

U-hu. Don't underestimate a bunch of old folks with nothing better to do than reading teenage girl magazines. Plus, remember that before being old, everybody has been young once. Believe it or not, slang is actually listed and updated in the distinguished encyclopedia they edit. I told you slang is part of our language.

Personnally, I grew up with a copy of the Bouquets des expressions imagées in the living room, a book entirely dedicated to wild slang words and expressions through the ages (yes, that's about 1400 pages of fine prints), which probably made me the slang poet I am now. (You will find it amusing that the author of this book taught English as a living. I am convinced he wrote this book because of the same sense of frustration with English slang, and the esteem of French slang that consequently arose, as the one I am experiencing now).

So next time you curse, don't apologize. And if a "Pardon my French" inadvertently slips between your lips, I will consider that as a tribute to our ingenuity and creativity in that domain.