20 images that will help you to understand France and French people

[steve2470]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/bullo/20-images-qui-aideront-les-etrangers-a-mieux-comprendre-la?utm_term=.fkY8XrAOr#.frJp2jo3j

















































(skipped a few, enjoy!)

[skypilot]

1. Wow, I this one seems very handy

Se faire lech de ouf: to feel the coldness of death as boredom slows down time and space.

I'm definitely going to use that one from time to time.

[DFW]

2. Some of those translations are a bit off the mark

"La flemme (or "Phlemmard&quot " is basically the same as "Phlegmatic," or in other words, feeling like doing nothing

"bien fait pour ta gueule" basically means "serves you right"

"être chaud pour faire quelque chose" basically means "eager (we also say 'hot to trot') to do something"

It's true, they DO say "putain" for just about every occasion, which is weird, because it is the French word for "whore," but then they also say "la vache (the cow)!" when surprised or unexpectedly impressed by something. I have no idea why.

I once broke up a French friend who couldn't stop laughing for three minutes straight. It was his first visit to Dallas, and we took him to Lawry's, the famous roast beef restaurant. At Lawry's, they bring a huge copper-brass hollow holder on wheels to your table. Inside is an immense side of beef. You tell them what cut you want, and how you want it, and they find it and cut it off for you right there at the table. Our French friend saw them slide the container open to reveal this immense piece meat half as big as he was, and exclaimed "la vache!" I remarked, "littéralement (literally)," this being probably the first instance since Napoleonic times that the phrase had been used with absolute contextual accuracy.

[blaze]

3. La vache!! Holy Cow! Which came first?

[DFW]

4. Ah, oui, ze eternelle question!

Qui le sait (who knows)?

[steve2470]

5. thanks for the input

You have such an awesome life with awesome experience. No offense to anyone, but we can be so parochial in the USA. Just going to Canada expands your mind.

Totally off-topic but I found this interesting:

https://www.vox.com/2015/7/21/8974435/switzerland-work-life-balance

Before I moved to Switzerland for almost a decade, American Reality was all I knew. I was living in a two-bedroom apartment making $30,000 a year in a job where I worked almost seven days a week with no overtime pay and received 10 days of paid time off a year.

In other words, for the hours worked, I was making minimum wage, if that. The glamour of this job was supposed to make up for the hours, but in reality, working every weekend is a ticket to burnout — not success.

My husband and I were so accustomed to American Reality that when he was offered an opportunity to work in Switzerland, we both thought about travel and adventure — not about improving our quality of life. It hadn't occurred to us that we could improve our quality of life simply by moving.

But without realizing it, or even asking for it, a better life quality came to us. And this is why, now that I'm back, I'm angry that my own country isn't providing more for its people. I will never regret living abroad. It taught me to understand another culture. And it taught me to see my own. But it also taught me something else — to lose touch with the American version of reality.

I have no context on this article, so your input welcome, my friend! Hope your family is doing well!

[OriginalGeek]

6. My wife's elderly aunt, who is not French at all,

says "Good Cow!" for just about every exclamation - whether the situation needed an exclamation or not.

For example:

Aunt: How are you today?
Me: I accidentally cut my leg off with a chainsaw and am headed to the hospital in an ambulance
Aunt: "GOOD COW!"

or

Aunt: How are you today?
Me: I'm fine. My coffee was a little stale this morning
Aunt "GOOD COW!"

I believe she is using it as a substitute for "My God!" but she just doesn't seem to grasp when it's really needed. I've never once heard her swear any more strongly than that but she says that allllll the time.

I wonder if she knew a French boy in her youth. Because NOBODY I've ever known says "good cow". Until today, I didn't know French people said some version of it.

[sakabatou]

7. So we get "Cow" the Stampede?