Untranslatable French Words

Untranslatable French words

(Be careful, these are casual expressions you can use with your friends but do NOT write them in essays!)

Putain

We use this word for literally anything: when we’re happy, amazed, annoyed, disgusted… Examples: “C’est génial putain!”, “Putain, ça me fait chier!”, “Mais bouge-là ta caisse putain!”. We also use it in front of nouns: “Cette putain de machine”

Ouf

When something is great, amazing. It’s the “verlan” (reverse) of the word “fou”, which means crazy. Examples: “Ce match est ouf!”, “C’est un ouf lui!”, “C’est un truc de ouf!” We also use it when something bad or scary happened but we finally made it, it’s a word of relief. Examples: “Ouf, on s’en est sorti!”, “Ouf, on a eu chaud”

De ouf

This expression uses the same words as before but means something different. We use “de ouf” to mean that something is extra, too much. It’s usually a reply to agree with someone. Examples: “- Il était tellement bourré hier soir! - De ouf!”

La flemme

The closer translation to “avoir la flemme” would be “to be lazy”. But I don’t think that there is any word in English that comes close to the concept of “flemme”. You can have “la flemme” to do basically anything. Examples: “ -Tu viens à la soirée ce soir? -Non, j’ai trop la flemme” , “J’ai la flemme de la faire la vaisselle”

Ras-le-bol

It literally means “at the edge of the bowl”, we use this expression when we’re over something, when we can’t stand it anymore, when it’s annoying us. It can be used for a thing or for a person. Examples: “J’en ai ras-le-bol de mes voisins”, “J’en ai ras-le-bol de répéter tout le temps la même chose”

Flâner

Probably the only word of this list which is not a slang but actually a word that you would find in books and that you can use in essays etc. “Flâner” means to walk slowly, to enjoy your time, to wander aimlessly just for the pleasure to walk and to enjoy your environment. Example: “Elle a flâné dans les rues de Lille tout l’après-midi”, “Ils aiment flâner dans les allées du magasin”

Ringard

When something is out, when it’s not trending anymore and it’s a bit shameful to like it or wear it. Example: “Cette chanson est trop ringarde”, “Porter des pantalons pattes d’eph c’est ringard”

Relou

This is the “verlan” (reverse) of the word “lourd”, which means heavy. “Relou” means that something or someone is annoying you or that it’s boring or annoying. Example: “Le bus a 15 minutes de retard, c’est relou”, “Ce mec est tellement relou”

Pêter un cable

To go crazy, to burn out Example: “Si ça continue comme ça je vais péter un cable”, “Il a pété un cable au bar hier soir”

Un beauf

Someone who wears old or ridiculous clothes such as socks with flip-flops. The stereotype is that these persons are white, not very educated, live in the countryside, are quite poor, like drinking alcohol, listen to bad music, have bad hair etc… I’ll join a picture so that you can portray better what is means

The man from the picture is actually “Jeff Tuche”, a character from a popular movie in France called “Les Tuche” which is the story of a beauf family who wins the lottery. Examples: “C’est un camping de beauf”, “Patrick Sébastien ne fait que des chansons de beauf”

Avoir le seum

To be mad, to be petty about something. We mainly use it when we’re annoyed because we lost or when we wanted something to happen but it’s not happening. Examples: “Ma mère veut pas que je sorte ce soir, j’ai le seum”, “Les belges ont le seum d’avoir perdu contre les français”

Bric à brac

A mix of random objects Examples: “C’est un vrai bric à brac ta voiture”, “Je n’arrive plus à retrouver mon briquet dans ce bric à brac”

And the last one: Pouloulou, it’s not a word, it’s a feeling

What philosopher should YOU fight

there are a lot of philosophers out there, and they all need to get pummeled. here’s the chances that you’ll come out on top in no particular order.

Socrates Who wins: Socrates Look, there is a -100% chance that Socrates lands a KO, but that’s because he doesn’t need to. you come in spoiling for a fight and by the end of it you’re seriously debating whether you can truly claim to have ownership of your arms. It makes you want to fight him more and then you just get deeper into the spiral. don’t bother.

Plato Who wins: Plato Sorry, but his name literally means ‘burly guy.’ you’re not going to win this one.

Aristotle Who wins: You Ok actually I don’t know who wins here but Aristotle needs to be beaten up so badly. Please punch him. I’ll help.

Diogenes: Who wins: Diogenes I get why you want to fight him. I want to fight him. Everyone wants to fight him. don’t do it tho. His entire life is a series of him asking people to fight him and he still lived to one million years old. Don’t do it.

Epicurus Who wins: Epicurus Jesus don’t fight Epicurus. dude does NOT care. your punches will be like water off a ducks back.

Kant Who wins: Nobody I forget the argument I was going to make because I just looked him up and he looks like a weird adult baby.

you’ll win this one but why do you want to fight an adult baby. Avoid.

Voltaire Who wins: You sidenote: is there a single picture where Voltaire doesn’t look punchable?

honestly. anyway, look at the guy, he’s like 20 pounds. punch him.

Hume Who wins: Hume ‘In 1731, he was afflicted with a ravenous appetite and palpitations of the heart. After eating well for a time, he went from being “tall, lean and raw-bon'd” to being “sturdy, robust [and] healthful-like”’ HE GOT ILL AND IT ONLY MADE HIM STRONGER. AVOID.

Hegel Who wins: ??? I honestly don’t know but ughhhhhhh he’s so smuuuuuug. Do it. Beat up Hegel.

Kierkegaard Who wins: You Like, the entire Concept of Anxiety. there is no way you could lose this fight. go for it.

Spinoza Who wins: You But you won’t feel good about it. All this scrawny man wants to do is grind up some lenses and maybe watch some spiders making a web if its a wild day. Don’t fight Spinoza.

Descartes Who wins: Descartes Guy was a mercenary. He like, did fencing. Don’t fight Descartes.

Nietzsche Who wins: You Use his moustache as a pulley and kick him in the chest. When you knock him out whisper ‘human, all too human….’, and laugh.

John Stuart Mill

Who wins: You JSM is the proto weird atheist guy who corners you and insists on going on and on about Richard Dawkins. You could take him easy. Fight John Stuart Mill.

Schopenhauer Who wins: Schopenhauer He believed that the world is fundamentally unsatisfied and in search of satisfaction?? This man is DYING to punch somebody. Don’t do it.

How to study like a straight A student

I did really well during my first year of college, and aside from a B+ in statistics (which was really good for me, haha! I’m not good at math), I had A’s in all of my classes. I’m certain that the reason I did so well was due to the way that I figured out how to study, so here are some tips I have based on what I did to study this past year!

1. Sit in the front row.

This isn’t high school anymore, it’s not embarrassing or nerdy to sit in the front row. By sitting in the front row, you won’t be tempted to check your phone and you won’t be distracted by looking at the people around you. I focus best in the front row. This also gives you a chance to easily ask any questions you have.

2. Show up to class a little early.

Show up to class about five minutes early every day, if possible. During the time it takes your professor to get set up, read through your previous notes. If you do this every day, you’ll begin to memorize info that you certainly wouldn’t have learned if you spent those five minutes before class just scrolling through tumblr.

3. Type your notes and print them out.

If you prefer to spend a lot of time on hand written notes, then go crazy. However, I don’t really have time to make aesthetic notes, so I prefer to just write my notes by hand during class, then copy them into microsoft word so I can organize and print them out. This makes the notes much easier to read, and it’s much easier on the eyes.

4. Do every assignment. Yes, EVERY assignment.

I don’t know why there’s advice floating around on tumblr telling people that it’s okay to skip a ton of homework assignments, because I definitely wouldn’t recommend it at all. Of course some assignments might be stupid or seem too small to matter, but if you’re being graded on them, you need all the points you can get. Trust me, just because homework assignments only account for 10-15% of your final grade, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be the difference between a B+ and an A-. Think about it: if your homework is 10% of your grade and you didn’t do it, you would literally have to get NOTHING wrong on your exams just to get the lowest A- possible.

5. Don’t skip. Don’t skip. Don’t skip.

Don’t skip if you can help it. If there is a serious emergency and you really can’t make it, try your hardest to get the best notes you can from someone who was in class. There’s nothing worse than sitting down for a test and realizing that a ton of the questions are about content you missed when you were absent.

6. Go over material in your head when you’re not busy.

If you’re in the shower or waiting in line at the cafe, go over class material in your head. Think about what you learned that day. If you do this often, this will help significantly with retention.

7. Make flashcards throughout the semester, not the night before the final.

Don’t be one of those students who has to relearn an entire textbook the week before finals. If you’re studying right, studying for finals should be relatively painless. Throughout the semester, make flashcards of class content and regularly go over them. The easiest way to do this is to use quizlet.com and fill in definitions and other things you need to know, and use their helpful games and quizzes to memorize the info. It even keeps track of the definitions you rarely get wrong, so you know what you don’t need to study as much.

8. Makes specific agendas for what you need to study and get done.

When I study, I need to have a very specific to-do list detailing exactly what I want to get done. This will motivate you to keep going because you’re able to check off what you’ve already done.

9. Don’t get discouraged by a bad grade- take it as motivation.

This is much easier said than done, but I had to do this in my western civilization class when I very nearly failed the first set of exams. If this happens to you, you should definitely take time to be upset about the grade, but don’t let yourself think it’s the end of the world. If you do badly, at least you know what to expect on the next assignment/exam so you know how to alter your studying to prepare for the next one. You can do it! I started western civ with a high D+ after my first exams, but I pulled out with an A- at the end of the semester!