66 | living Language
Pardon? I
don’t know about you, but I’ve been suffering from a touch of the Meldrews recently - the Victor Meldrews. The archetypal grumpy old malcontent, well known for his pessimistic outlook on life, seems all too familiar these days. Luckily, I find myself at home in France, where le râleur and la râleuse are also familiar figures too. If you’re shaving the bowl, if you’re farting lead, if you’re passing the soap right now, then you’re in good company. Today, we’re going to look at some of the most entertaining French terms for losing your temper, for having a whinge, for grousing and grumbling. Râler, or moaning, complaining or whingeing for those of you who haven’t come across this term, is a familiar word in French. Just like the English ‘moan’ or ‘groan’, it’s a word that finds its origins in the sounds we might make if we’re suffering from physical injury or finding it hard to breathe. Of course, both words also indicate mental anguish too: an expression of agonies both physical and psychological. If you’ve ever seen your French friends post nothing but a rhôôôô (add extra ôs if you’re particularly annoyed) on social media, this is one French way to express their discontent. A little like we might do with Pffffft or *sigh*. Not something we’d say aloud, but a good way of expressing our miseries when writing. Other words for a grump or a grumbler would include ronchon or grincheux. Of course, if you’re a fan of The Grinch, Dr Seuss’s book and the Jim Carrey film, then you’ll already understand grincheux. In fact, the green grumbler who stole Christmas is called Le Grincheux in French. Funnily, Grumpy, he of Seven Dwarves fame, is also Grincheux in
French. Unlike the famous American Grinch, who only seems particularly grumpy at Christmas, grincheux is a phrase you can use all year round if you like. Ronchon is another word that also describes the grumpy malcontent. If you’re permanently in a bad mood or you’re always grumpy, then ronchon or ronchonne is a good way to describe yourself. Of course, you may stick to daily low level grumbling or occasionally blow your top. If you’ve really had enough of la pagaille (mayhem) then you can always say you’ve had enough, j’en ai ras le bol. Since ras comes from raser or ‘to shave’, this always makes me think of shaving the bowl. Being fed up to the back teeth is probably the closest expression we might have in English, that you’ve really hit your limit. It isn’t a particularly polite term, but then nothing about losing your temper is generally polite is it? I always wonder if I’m going to stick to vous if I’m really angry at someone. Never has the choice of tu or vous been so controversial as when you’re really angry. You might also find yourself a little inflated in these times. Gonfler usually means to inflate or to puff up but if you say someone puffs you up, il me
Need to share your feelings? Our language expert Emma-Jane Lee shows how… gonfle it can mean that someone is irritating you. On a scale of irritation, you might well then péter les plombs or ‘blow the lead’. Since péter also means to fart, this expression always makes me think of someone farting lead. Since old-fashioned fuses were made of lead, this expression goes back to the idea of blowing a fuse or blowing a gasket. You can also ‘fart a cable’ or péter un câble if you’re truly angry and you’ve lost your temper. Again, none of these terms are particularly polite but if you’ve flipped your lid, then you probably don’t care very much about manners. And if you’re in the habit of taking collateral damage when you blow a fuse or a gasket, taking out your anger on the nearest target, you might well ‘pass the soap to someone’. Passer un savon means that you really tore a strip off someone or that you hauled them over the coals, giving them an ear bashing. You might think it’s strange to use such laundry-based expressions, as if referring to old laundry women giving the sheets a real good scrubbing, until you remember that we also have the expression ‘to put someone through the wringer’ in English which means a similar sort of thing. So if you’ve spent a lot of time carping on recently, maybe it’s time to chill out a little and remember that it seems both sides of the Channel are prone to getting a little wound up from time to time. Let’s hope that 2021 brings us a little calm, at least. Emma is a jack-of-all-language-trades, writing English textbooks, translating, marking exam scripts and teaching languages. She lives near La Rochefoucauld with her growing menagerie. See www.english-tuition.weebly.com
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Editor: Kathryn Dobson FEATURES EDITOR: Roger Moss Advertising: Jon Dobson Art editor: Nadia Van den Rym Production manager: Justin Silvester Regular contributors: Caro Feely, Susan Hays, Jessica Knipe, magazine Emma-Jane Lee, Nikki Legon, Mike Morris, and Stig Tomas. WITH THANKS TO: John and Gill Bowler, Julia Moss. Photography: Shutterstock or Roger Moss unless indicated. Cover image: Kingfisher © Erni / Shutterstock Published by: SARL AMM, 2 Rue Buffefeu, 86400
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