Canadian French word help please

[rewok]

NOW please excuse the disaster that I'm going to make of this spelling but I remember my mother always saying something that sounds like this....I'm going to spell it like it sounded to me. LOL

"Moo-tsee vehnaw, tate de-pe-yush" ????? She would always shake her head when she said it too.

I asked her years ago and she said it was like when you wanted to call someone pig-headed? Or basically, she couldn't believe that someone just said or did something stupid. LOL

Anyone else hear this? Or something similar?

Sorry, can't make anything out of that one!! (Note that I'm pretty bad at interpreting phonetic spelling, I never got the hang of that)

I just thought of another one...from my grandmother again. Bien pour l'more

(don't pronounce the "n" in bien) I know I did not spell it right, and I have NO idea what it means. She used to say it to convey "for goodness sakes"...

Sacre Bleu...yup, she used that one too!

That one could be "Bon pour l'amour" or some variation... You translation fits nicely. It's something I might say when things aren't going my way!

 

[cajunmommy]

Not French Canadian, but I grew up calling cats "minew" thanks to my Cajun French great-grandmother (Me'mere) & grandparents!

And yes, nap time or bed time was "time to go make do-do". I learned about the fais-do-do connection early on because that's what dances at the fairs on Fri or Sat evening were called.

Don't remember the term for slippers, but I've heard the flicking / pinching thing called "peesch-ney" - no idea on the spelling!


What about this one? If someone is pouting we say they're "boudaying". Sound familiar to any of you?

 

[Tinijocaro]

Not French Canadian, but I grew up calling cats "minew" thanks to my Cajun F


What about this one? If someone is pouting we say they're "boudaying". Sound familiar to any of you?

I think we have all heard most of these terms, with variations to make up for location and accent differences.

Yes, my mom would say that my father was "bouding" "Stop your bouding" Except when she said it, it rhymed with hooding. I never realized it was a french term.

My parents were born and raised in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, a very heavy French Canadian community.

 

[pumba]

I always thought that the moo stee was a swear too.....because it was preceded the tabernakle word......Bad bad..I of course could of not pronounced it enough to say it...

But wish I could find someone that knew about the guilettes too....lightly fried dough ..but not like the fried dough at the fairs.....just a breakfast item...

this is a great thread......

and my sister in law would talk to my daughter when she was a baby(and my daughter would get hysterical laughing at her)...bells crut???? Cute little something ......but it was cute when my sil said it......I cant say it ....right...

 

[Nancyg56]

I remember "mootsee" but cannot remember how the "girls" used it

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I did a Canadian French/English translation online and the word slippers came up as pantoufles.

I grew up in Maine, took 4 years of (Parisean) French before tranferring to HS in a very French Canadian town. I remember lots of conversations about pantoufles. (Though not why slippers came up so much in a HS French class!)

I moved to Germany a year later and spent some time at a French HS on an exhchange program. My host student wanted to go buy a gift for her mom- she was telling me the word in French and I didn't get it til we got to the shoe store. Oh, I said, pantoufles! Obviously NOT the Parisean word. She thought I was telling her the English name for the things. I envision her now going to England or something and asking to buy pantoufles.

 

[DeniseinNS]

I'm from Ontario, Canada (not at all French Canadian) and have always used the word "housecoat". Now I'm wondering if it's a Canadian thing, I had no idea.

I'm from Nova Scotia and we say housecoat as well

 

[rewok]

I always thought that the moo stee was a swear too.....because it was preceded the tabernakle word......Bad bad..I of course could of not pronounced it enough to say it...

But wish I could find someone that knew about the guilettes too....lightly fried dough ..but not like the fried dough at the fairs.....just a breakfast item...

this is a great thread......

and my sister in law would talk to my daughter when she was a baby(and my daughter would get hysterical laughing at her)...bells crut???? Cute little something ......but it was cute when my sil said it......I cant say it ....right...

The moo stee is a big swear word... It's the communion bread in the Catholic (all Christian maybe?) mass. I won't write down the correct French spelling for fear of getting a warning!

I'll try to ask around my mom and friends about the guilettes. Never ate such a thing I must say!

 

[Melmac]

I think "housecoat" is more of an "era" thing than a regional thing. Both of my grandmothers used that term too.....one of them was from Arkansas, the other from Oklahoma. I don't think either of them ever even visited Canada!

Ha ha, I hope it is not an era thing ... I am 31 and use "housecoat"

This thread is funny ... my DH is from Montreal and we go there every Christmas. The only french I ever had was K-12 Parisien french so the first time in Montreal, I thought I would at least be able to get by - nope! Too much slang compared to what I had learned plus, they talk so fast The first thing I did learn was some swear words. I noticed my DH's family would use the english word for things but give it a french accent - words like "toaster" (which I learned as a grille-pain) and "hot dog".

 

[epcotprincess]

I'm from Michigan and I say housecoat when I'm talking about a robe made of cotton and I say bathrobe when it's made of terrycloth.

 

[LindaG4458]

I grew up in Nashua, NH when it was a big French-Canadian town. Some of my classmates never spoke English until first grade! Most of the terms I learned were swear phrases. Kiss my A**. Eat s***. I had a temp job in Nashua a few years ago. When a coworker popped out with one of these I knew I was back in town.

One of my grandmothers used to make the fried dough described earlier. We only called them doughcakes. A clump of dough was fried in butter until crispy on both sides and done through. Then we would prick one side with a fork and spread more butter to melt and sink into the bread. My mouth is watering now!

I still make gorton. The (other) grandmother who taught me to make that was German but lived in a French-Canadian neighborhood in Nashua. She was a good cook and learned how to make a lot of the neighborhood goodies.

Oh, and I always called a robe a housecoat.

 

[Nancyg56]

I still make gorton. The (other) grandmother who taught me to make that was German but lived in a French-Canadian neighborhood in Nashua. She was a good cook and learned how to make a lot of the neighborhood goodies.

Oh, and I always called a robe a housecoat.

I make gorton too! My Mom used to make it and she showed me how. I also make tortierre at Christmas. My Mom always made them to have after Moidnight Mass on Christmas Eve. This year My DMIl was not able to make her own so I made one for her.

 

[BKMETV]

The fried dough sounds like Bannock, it can be fried or cooked on a stick over a bonfire. In school my son is learning that the french voyagers called it galette.

 

[RichardG]

NOW please excuse the disaster that I'm going to make of this spelling but I remember my mother always saying something that sounds like this....I'm going to spell it like it sounded to me. LOL

"Moo-tsee vehnaw, tate de-pe-yush" ????? She would always shake her head when she said it too.

I asked her years ago and she said it was like when you wanted to call someone pig-headed? Or basically, she couldn't believe that someone just said or did something stupid. LOL

Anyone else hear this? Or something similar?

Perhaps you are thinking about the expressions "maudit verra" and tête de pioche ?

Richard

 

[RichardG]

Remembered another one-pronounced "sang-yard". It's an exclamation of some kind, kind of like Oh my!

It probably was "Seigneur" which would be translated by Oh Lord !

Richard

 

[pumba]

OH EV......thanks so much and also for the other replies to Galette...Also we could not cut the dough open with a knife ..bad bad...hahaha.....only open it up and spread the good butter on it....we dunked ours in tea with milk and sugar in it. AND I am drooling because it was such a treat to have that on Saturday mornings...I knew I probably wasnt spelling it correctly but heck ...I may be of French origin but no French left in me.

Our Granddaughter took four years of French in high school and when her dads relatives were here from Paris.....she could listen and know what they were talking about.....BUT when her dads Father talked ..it was slang Canadian French.....

Any comments on the Bells crut.....or something sounds like that???

 

[Liberty Belle]

It's like those French have a different word for everything!

 

[pampam]

NOW please excuse the disaster that I'm going to make of this spelling but I remember my mother always saying something that sounds like this....I'm going to spell it like it sounded to me. LOL

"Moo-tsee vehnaw, tate de-pe-yush" ????? She would always shake her head when she said it too.

I asked her years ago and she said it was like when you wanted to call someone pig-headed? Or basically, she couldn't believe that someone just said or did something stupid. LOL

Anyone else hear this? Or something similar?

I'm thinking she was talking about the head. tete.

 

[maslex]

Perhaps you are thinking about the expressions "maudit verra" and tête de pioche ?

Richard

Thanks!!! I'm not sure the "maudit verra" sounds right. But "tete de pioche" sure does.

What does that all mean? And if someone could tell me (whether it's in a PM or here) what is the "bad word" that it translates to?

 

[rewok]

Thanks!!! I'm not sure the "maudit verra" sounds right. But "tete de pioche" sure does.

What does that all mean? And if someone could tell me (whether it's in a PM or here) what is the "bad word" that it translates to?

"tete de pioche" can be translated to "pig headed" (not so bad you see!)

"maudit verra" is more like "darn rascal" I would say. "Maudit"=swear word substituted by darn.