Saturday, November 03, 2007

Un Foutage De Gueule

Maybe this belongs in a word of the week post, but I wanted to write about it before I forgot. And the pictures are gratuitous.

We all know the expression, "se foutre de la gueule." It means to mock, more or less. "Tu te fous de ma gueule?" means, essentially, are you ridiculing me?

Saint-Aignan-Sur-Cher seen from the island.

In a news report on Wednesday, a woman was complaining about something that had happened to her and the response of the people responsible. I can't remember now whether it was a company or a government agency, or what, but they had basically kissed her off. She told the reporter, "J'appelle ça un foutage de gueule."

One of two access points for cars to the island.

I had never heard the expression used that way before and it made me laugh. I'm not certain that "foutage" is even a word. Does anyone know?

11 comments:

  1. What beautiful photos, you live in a dream!!! Vida x x x

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  2. I've certainly never heard "foutage" and the way my daughters talk sometimes, I think I've heard quite a bit of this type of language...I'll have to ask my husband and I'll write again if he says it exists. I think the woman was probably just trying to create a noun form...

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  3. It's one of those fashionable neologisms!

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  4. No foutage de gueule about your pic of the week! It's the real thing ;)

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  5. vida, don't we all? ;)

    betty, thanks. Ken actually found a site where a swiss guy, I think, used the phrase. He must have googled it. It must be in vogue, as claude says.

    claude, I think you may be right!

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  6. You are right, sometimes I forget... Vida x x x

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  7. One of my French friends had "mes parents se foutent de ma guele?!?" on his MSN status, and I didn't know what it meant, so naturally, I googled it and happened upon your blog. Thanks for explaining it :). Your pictures are gorgeous and your blog is fascinating. Perfect for living vicariously in between college apps :D. I'll be a regular reader from now on :).

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  8. I would translate foutage de gueule as "bullshit". "Ca c'est foutage de gueule!"="That's bullshit!"

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  9. ...also, my wife (who is French) is fond of the expression "qu'est-ce c'est que cette foutaise!"
    Sorry to be "anonymous" but I don't have a blog of my own. You have a very nice blog here.
    Bonne Année et meilleur voeux pour 2009!
    Ryne

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  10. ryne, thanks for stopping by! Meilleur voeux to you as well :)

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  11. heh
    My son (who lives in Rouen) had this phrase as his status, so I Googled it, and here I am.
    Thanks for the help!

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