Comments on: Mouche, pis tousse, pis crache, pis atchoum

By: Kathleen Molloy

Kathleen Molloy — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:01:16 +0000

Living in west Quebec I know exactly what you mean. I struggle to use “decent” french and that doesn’t mean grammatically correct french but french that won’t get me sued or arrested. It’s a struggle but I get buy fine. I can order compost in French, I got sized for a post-maternity bra in french, and I negotiated edits with my french proof reader for my novel La Mort au menu. BUT the real trouble comes when you know just enough french to get by and you think you know more than you do. This happens to me ALL the time. Last week I was trying to explain to our day care provider that I was going to pick up the kids early so that I could get my eye brows waxed because I didn’t want to let the Unibrow grow out of control. The concept of the Unibrow is not foreign to hairy Quebecers. My explaination was a mess though and I translated Unibrow as unilateral eyebrow, one line of eyebrow, uninterupted eyebrow and finally she got it and cried with laughter. In west Quebec the Unibrow translated as : Le One Piece.

Kathleen Molloy, author – Dining with Death
http://www.diningwithdeath.ca

http://www.kathleenmolloy.offo.ca

http://www.lamortaumenu.ca

By: Fawn

Fawn — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:40:48 +0000

I dated a Franco-Ontarian (Ottawa area) for a year and always got a kick out of stuff like “J’vais parker mon char,” and similar.

The attitude thing is interesting. I don’t remember anyone ever saying anything to give me the opinion, but I know that when I was little I thought Parisian French was the best kind, maybe because it made sense that the language spoken in the place of origin would be the “purest”. Later on I came to think that it made sense to speak a more Canadian French, being Canadian and all. Finally I got mature enough to cast off the idea that there has to be a hierarchy at all. After all, my own French is far from perfect.

Spanish has a similar issue, I think. I remember visiting some Canadian friends who were studying in Spain and chatting about some of the differences between Spanish there and in different parts of South America or Mexico. Interestingly, they all agreed that they preferred the kind of Spanish spoken in Mexico.

By: yukonchatterbug

yukonchatterbug — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:34:05 +0000

Fawn,
There certainly are different words and expressions to describe the same thing, as is the case with English in the UK versus North American (i.e. flat vs. apartment). Your example is a good one. My family use to call a slide “glissade.”

The French spoken in Northern Ontario is actually very similar to that in many parts of Québec. The expressions used are the same, as is the terminology. Mind you, Ontarians tend to use more English words injected into conversation. For instance, some people will say, “Elle a eu tellement de fun sur la slide.”

My husband always teases me about my French. He took French immersion as well, so he understands some of it. He always finds that my French changes depending on who I’m talking to. If it’s work-related, my French is much more formal, correct, and brushed up. If I’m talking to family, I revert to slang, different accent and all.

What bothers me isn’t the different ways people express themselves, but the attitudes surrounding the language, that one is better than the other. These attitudes don’t encourage non-French speakers to learn the language, that’s for sure.

By: fawnahareo

fawnahareo — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:07:00 +0000

Wow, the arrogance.

I learned French in Northern Ontario, as well, though it was through a French Immersion program. I don’t think I had much of an opinion about different types of French, other than thinking that super-slangy Quebec French seemed pretty low-brow. Ha!

The first time I ever remember learning about differences in terminology was when I visited some family in France (third cousin and third cousins once removed, but who’s counting?) and I was referring to slides as a “glissoire”. They had no idea what I was talking about. I notice one of the books I have for Jade refers to it as a “toboggan”, just like my cousins did. So then I wondered if “glissoire” was just a figment of my imagination.