French slang
Hi everyone! Scrolling through my dash I have seen many a accurate post about French expressions - especially those used by teenagers and young people in general. I’d like to share a few more with you, which I myself find rather funny!
☛ Gros
The equivalent of “bro” - sounds quite the same too. It’s rather a funny expression, because “gros” actually means “big” in French!
☛ Wesh
Means “hey”. Just like in English, this word has multiple meanings, and can be used to great people (Wesh mon frère! Hey bro!) as well as to express surprise or when upset (Wesh, tu fais quoi là? Hey, what are you doing?)
☛ Gow
The contraction of the word gonzesse, which indicates a young lady. Girls like to use it as an expression of affection towards their girlfriends (Ma gow would be the equivalent of “my homie”, except it’s just for girls).
☛ Azy
Contraction of the word Vas-y, meaning “Come on!” (Bonus: if you’re particularly annoyed you can add a là at the end of the expression, like this: Azy là!)
☛ Chou/choute, chouquette
Means “cute”. Chou is masculine, choute is feminine, and chouquette is neutral (no plural). Vous etes trop chouquette! You guys are so cute!
☛ Askip
Contraction of A ce qui parait, “apparently”. Askip il veut lui parler… Apparently he wants to talk to her…
☛ Se ramener
Means “to show up”. Il avait dit qu’il ne viendrait pas, mais à la fin, il s’est ramené = He said he wouldn’t come but he showed up in the end.
☛ Tu connais les bails
“You know what’s up”. Bails (pronounced baï) literally means “stuff that’s going on”. Aller, racontez-moi les bails = Come on, tell me what’s going on.
☛ C’est ouf
French people have this thing where they have to reverse words. All. The damn. Time. It’s called the verlan language (“verlan” is reverse of “l’envers”, which literally means “reverse”) – and this is no exception. Ouf is the reversion of fou, therefore c’est ouf = “that’s crazy!” (which really is, trust me).
Here are a few other verlan words you might stumble upon:
Relou = lourd, “heavy, annoying”
Refre, Reuf = frère, “brother”
Reuss = soeur, “sister”
Turfu = futur, “future”
Mec = “guy”
Meuf = femme, “girl”
Chelou = louche, “weird”, “suspicious”
Cimer = merci, “thank you”
Hope this was useful and you won’t find yourself going like wuut next time you’re interacting with Frenchies. Cimer for reading, gros!
