Quebec swears by its English curses

Toronto red Star ^ | December 12, 2006 | Sean Gordon

[dfwgator]

I also remember it was used a lot in the movie "The Commitments"

[headsonpikes]

Back in 1970, I worked with some French-Canadian guys in the bush outside Pine Point, NWT.

"Tabernak!" has a damning force that must be heard to be believed. I think it's the 'ba-da-bing' pattern. ;^)

[Dont Mention the War]

[rellimpank]

--my command of Frog is almost zero--what am I missing about "tabernacle"--??

[DTA]

[pogo101]

Yeah, why are "tabernacle" and "chalice" dirty words there?

Is this some Freudian thing (in that the words now refer to a woman's and man's private parts, respectively)?

[GMMAC]

Years ago I was in the company of some francophones and an item came up in the conversation concerning a black man who'd done something - I can't remember what - considered socially appalling.
One of the Frenchmen exclaimed in French literally "the Host n*gger!"
The French women present were all incredibly shocked, not by his use of the 'n' word in polite company but by his tres gauche blaspheme.

[x]

"No, it doesn't mean anything," said ethnographer Jean-Pierre Pichette, who's written on the subject and compiled a dictionary of French-Canadian swear words and expressions.

But surely it does mean something to people who are bilingual.

When you're fourteen and sitting in language class, "merde" or "mierda" or "Scheiße" are just funny sounding words. If you keep up with the language you studied and come across such a word as an adult, you know what it means and roughly what its impact on native speakers is.

[GMMAC]

"... why are "tabernacle" and "chalice" dirty words there?"

Not "dirty" - blasphemous.
Up until the 1960's, French Quebec was likely one of the most universally devout Roman Catholic societies on the planet. Although it's backslid an absolutely incredible distance over the last couple of generations, misuse of any religious terms (blasphemy) remains much more of a social taboo than what we'd consider profanity.

Au la belle province, sacrilege continues to trump vulgarity.

[rellimpank]

--thanks--interesting.

Unrelated , but one of my former collegues who worked in northern Quebec for some months considered it to have the most corrupt government that he had encountered--

[GMMAC]

Unlike some locales where corruption is pretty much the accepted lifestyle, a surprising number of Quebecers are really fed up with it.
In many quarters the Liberal Party gangsters are actually far more despised than they are in English Canada because Quebecers know them just that much better.

Interestingly, this hatred for the Librano$ skews Quebec politics in ways most outsiders are unaware:
In many parts of the province a lot of the separatist vote is actually an anti-Liberal vote while, in others, people hold their noses to vote for them because they're more afraid of the separatists.

Both the Liberals & the separatist Bloc Quebecois are rightly terrified by the recent rise in popularity of our Conservatives since both well know the basis of their support is anything but firm in many parts of the province.

[Sender]

What? The? Phoque?

[Loyalist]

What the phoque!

[kellynch]

It's actually "va te faire foutre." Not that I'm telling you to do it, of course... ;-)

[kellynch]

PS... "la foudre" means "lightning"

[-YYZ-]

From what I understand, in Canadian (and maybe generally) french, "merde" does not have the same sort of connotation as the English equivalent. "Tabernac" is a strong swear word in Canadian french, but not in Parisian french, again from what I understand. What do they use for comparable impact in Parisian french, I wonder?

[-YYZ-]

They are all words associated with the Catholic church, and up until the middle or so of the last century, Quebec was a place where the Catholic church had a very strong hold. So by using those words in that context, it was very much a profanity, in the true meaning of the word.

[GMMAC]

Presumably, the Parisian French are pretty careful about what they say as, who knows when they may be surrendering to the whomever's on the other end of any conversation.

Seriously though,"Tabernac" and other blasphemies are more socially shocking & unacceptable in French Quebec because it's only a couple of generations removed from being among the most universally devoutly Catholic societies anywhere.
France, on the other hand, has been largely irreligious since it's Revolution in the 1790's and most certainly so since the Paris Commune of 1870.

[BfloGuy]

But surely it does mean something to people who are bilingual

It means something, but there's no emotional connotation. I remember my first visit to Quebec when my French-Canadian buddy (we were seated around the dinner table with his very Catholic Mom and Dad) started off (in French) with f*** this and f*** that.

I was shocked but Mom just smiled and kept eating. But if he so much as muttered "chalice" under his breath, she beat him with both fists.

Il a tout fucké l'affaire just means "he screwed up." And if you translated it literally with the equivalent French verb, it wouldn't bother many.

French Canadians are pretty blasé about sex. But even though most of them don't go to church anymore, don't even think about using religious terms as oaths.

[mkjessup]

The talking parrot had been warned by it's owner to cease the obscene curses that it's previous owner had taught it, to which the irreverent bird would respond "Hell yes!" or "ahhhh sh*t!", finally the owner, a respectable church lady could take no more, and took the parrot, opened the freezer and put him inside to think over his wayward speech.

Inside the darkened freezer, the parrot is rustling his feathers trying to stay warm, his eyes adjust to the darkness and he sees a frozen Butterball turkey, to which he says, "BAWK! What in Hell did YOU say, *F--K*?!?"

Yeah I know it's old but it's still funny. :)