(French) Canadien Words, eh?

Well I did the English words, now I'll do the French words... Why not? This is a bilingual country after all. This article may not make any sense unless you are bilingual because I'll be explaining Quebecois/French words in English.

The main difference between French (from France) and Quebecois is the accent. The accent is believed to be the way People in France spoke in the 1750s. So French hasn't had time to evolve that much. So, some words remain the same in Quebec as old French. Common words such as niaiseux for stupide (Stupid, but I guess you know that) or pantoute for pas du tout (not at all) are not understandable in France althought the French spoke them about 300 years ago.

Being under British Dommination, Les Canadiens started using English words and making them french. So expressions like billet de saison (for abbonnement de billet or something similar) come from english words like Season's tickets. Breuvage (from Beverage) means boisson, checker (from "To Check") means vérifier and gradué (from Graduated) means diplomé. Some of these words, although acceptable in speech, aren't used in writing. Especialy those that are closest to english, like plugger (Plug) or parquer (Park (a car)) for brancher or garer. Or maybe that's just not acceptable in Ontario where we are tough standard French. The weird thing about French Canadian Southern Ontarians is that even though many (especially those born in Ontario) speak better French than English, there is a touch of English accent in their French. Probably like Anglo-Quebecers.

Also some things mean something else in France. Lets start by the meals. In Canada its déjeuner (breakfast), dîner (lunch) and souper (supper) while in France its petit-déjeuner (breakfast), déjeuner (lunch) and dîner (Supper). As I mentioned before breuvage (beverage) is a boisson. A Boisson in Quebec is an Alcoholic drink only. And unused in Ontario is liqueur that means boisson gazeuse (Pop).

Other words that don't seem to fit much in any of these categories are bibittes which are insects (bugs/insects) and the indian-origined maringouins which are moustiques (mosquitoes).

I don't know how they swear in France but in Quebec all you have to do is say something that has to do with the Church and it's bound to be used by Quebecers. For example: Hostie, Calisse, Tabernak... but I don't want to ruin my enjoyable reputation so I will shut out these words and be my innocent self once more.

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