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Category Archives: .edu
Mot du Jour: Crasseux
Crasseux(-euse) (adj): grimy.
So my 17-yr-old host sister Anna and I are reading an article from the New York Times to practice our English/French, and Anna asks me what the word “grimy” means. Of course I decide to do this English lesson sans dictionnaire because I think that I am the master of all things French, and I say “Oh, grimy, ça veut dire grumeaux.” I go on to use les doigts (fingers) grumeaux as an example. Turns out grumeaux means lumps (plein de grumeaux means lumpy), so really I used lumpy fingers as an example, and crasseux means grimy, which is confusing to an American speaker because don’t grumeaux and grimy sound like presque the same mot?! And where does crasseux come from??
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Posted in .edu, Mot du Jour
La Sorbonne 2.0
As somewhere I go presque everyday, I feel like my first post about la Sorbonne didn’t do my experience justice. From the overcrowding to the language barrier, everyday is a new adventure strugfest…
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Mot du Jour: MDR
MDR: the French version of LOL. It stands for mort de rire, which means “death of laughter.” Cute, non? Though I was recently told (by an actual French person!) that the French do know and use LOL and that quelques français even SAY “lol” (not “L-O-L,” literally “lol”). lol.
Posted in .edu, Mot du Jour
VDM
VDM is the French version of FML.
It stands for Vie de Merde, and the site contains vos histoires de la vie quotidienne (your everyday life stories). Their slogan is “Ma vie c’est de la merde, et je vous emmerde,” which kind of means “My life is sh*t, and I don’t give a f*ck.” This isn’t a direct translation. Technically it means “My life, it’s of sh*t, and I f*ck you,” but somehow I don’t think that’s exactly what the French are trying to say. Either way, it’s a little more harsh than FML’s subtitle, which is “Get the guts to spill the beans.”
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Posted in .edu, Salopes Aiment Ceci
Mot du Jour: Faux Pas
Faux pas: social blunder. You know, like wearing colors in Paris or Abercrombie past the 8th grade.
Drinking a Natty with a cop might be a faux pas. Whatever the hell I’m wearing in this photo would also fall into that category…
Posted in .edu, Mot du Jour
Mot du Jour: Pompette
Pompette: basically the equivalent of “tipsy” en anglais. As in it’s only okay for girls to use this word, and even then not really.
So the next time you get into the cups and your host Madame is all, “Oh, tu es ivre (drunk)! Vraiment beurré (wasted/buttered)!” You can be all, “Nonnnn, je ne suis pas ivre! Je suis juste pompette.”
Posted in .edu, Mot du Jour