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The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words

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Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words

#3

Post by SFJulie »

It's not merde, it's mârde.

Y' devrait me donner une piasse pour ça. Kâlisse de saint Simonach.

Btw piasse is pronounced between a pièce (coin in french) and piastre (spanish ancient money) that was used a lot by smugglers.

And tabernâk, he forgot to speak about the "pot" (prounouced pote).

An old quebecan band with english subtitles to improve your quebecan :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gidM31MCM

Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words

#5

Post by cornelius747 »

SFJulie wrote: post #3

It's not merde, it's mârde. Y' devrait me donner une piasse pour ça. Kâlisse de saint Simonach. Btw piasse is pronounced between a pièce (coin in french) and piastre (spanish ancient money) that was used a lot by smugglers. And tabernâk, he forgot to speak about the "pot" (prounouced pote). An old quebecan band with english subtitles to improve your quebecan :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gidM31MCM

When you said old I was expecting Offenbach or Beau Dommage not Les Colocs. I can't believe it's been 17 years. RIP Dédé.

Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words

#6

Post by carlob »

FWIW some other catholic countries have beautiful blasphemous profanities: Italy and Spain come to mind, but I'm pretty sure Poland has some too.

In Italy profanities that attack religion are so pretty much a taboo that is weird to foreigners: you can have a prime time tv show with full frontal nudity and some violence, but you will not hear swearing against god until after midnight.

Edited to reflect a comment by gattilorenz

Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words

#7

Post by SFJulie »

cornelius747 wrote: post #5
SFJulie wrote: post #3

It's not merde, it's mârde. Y' devrait me donner une piasse pour ça. Kâlisse de saint Simonach. Btw piasse is pronounced between a pièce (coin in french) and piastre (spanish ancient money) that was used a lot by smugglers. And tabernâk, he forgot to speak about the "pot" (prounouced pote). An old quebecan band with english subtitles to improve your quebecan :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gidM31MCM

When you said old I was expecting Offenbach or Beau Dommage not Les Colocs. I can't believe it's been 17 years. RIP Dédé.

Sometimes I miss Montréal and the music. I am back in Europa, and I long for the live music in this place.

Is this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuHODi3Ry2o Acceptable for the right pronounciation? Grim Skunk- Mange d'la marde

Montréal is fortunately underrated (except by some maudit f....), I hope it will never become the new San Francisco.

Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words

#8

Post by icebraining »

carlob wrote: post #6

FWIW some other catholic countries have beautiful blasphemous profanities: Italy and Spain come to mind, but I'm pretty sure Poland has some too. In Italy profanities that attack religion are so pretty much a taboo that is weird to foreigners: you can have a prime time tv show with full frontal nudity and some violence, but you will not hear swearing against god until after midnight. Edited to reflect a comment by ga…

For interested people, I recommend Your Mother's Tongue: A Book Of European Invective by Stephen Burgen. While it doesn't cover Quebec, it's an extremely funny and informative cross-continent compendium, and I think it reveals quite a lot of the culture of different countries and peoples.

Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words

#9

Post by gattilorenz »

carlob wrote: post #6

FWIW some other catholic countries have beautiful blasphemous profanities: Italy and Spain come to mind, but I'm pretty sure Poland has some too. In Italy profanities that attack religion are so pretty much a taboo that is weird to foreigners: you can have a prime time tv show with full frontal nudity and some violence, but you will not hear swearing against god until after midnight. Edited to reflect a comment by ga…

I don't think the description of the italian situation is quite correct: it seems to me that "regular" profanity is much less censored, nowadays.

On the other hand, "blasphemous" profanity (swearing at $DEITY) is still a no-no, even after midnight, and a sure way to get suspended from TV, even though you can easily hear people on the street saying that aloud in some regions (for example Tuscany, Veneto, Trentino and Friuli).

By the way, in Trentino we also say "osti" (host) as a plain exclamation, exactly as in Québec.

Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words

#10

Post by cornelius747 »

SFJulie wrote: post #7
cornelius747 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you said old I was expecting Offenbach or Beau Dommage not Les Colocs. I can't believe it's been 17 years. RIP Dédé.

Sometimes I miss Montréal and the music. I am back in Europa, and I long for the live music in this place. Is this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuHODi3Ry2o Acceptable for the right pronounciation? Grim Skunk- Mange d'la marde Montréal is fortunately underrated (except by some maudit f....), I hope it will never become the new San Francisco.

GrimSkunk is quintessential quebecois through and through. They're rolling their r's a bit more than is usual for effect, the song has a humorous tone. I really hope we don't become like San Francisco either, but the hipsterisation of the city is very palpable, unfortunately. The music scene is still as awesome as ever though.
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