Category Archives: Mot du Jour

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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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.

That time we laughed in Tours

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…

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.”

Today’s mot is only my very favorite French word EVER: monnaie.

monnaie (noun, feminine): currency or change. As in, do you have la monnaie for a dollar?
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Un sans domicile fixe (SDF): a homeless person. You know how the French love acronyms.

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In honor of Halloween demain, my first French word of the day is déguisement.

The debut to my short-lived career as a film star

déguisement (noun, masculine) [day-geeze-eh-mont]: what les français call a costume.

My first déguisement, as a hobo

Last night I was telling my host family about my plans of bringing Halloween à Paris, and I didn’t know the word for costume. When in doubt, add a French accent to the English word. CostOOME? I tried. They immediately knew what I meant but said, “Non, c’est un day-geeze-eh-mont.” At first I thought that was such a funny word to mean costume, but then it occurred to me that it had the same root as the English word disguisement, and then it occurred to me that actually the English word isn’t disguisement but disguise. I’m losing English words left and right, y’all, and my spelling has gone to shit. Anyway, Joyeux Halloween from Paris, and don’t forget your déguisement!

My personal fav handmade déguisement, Furby – KA 90’s theme party 2010