Quebec French profanity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The literal translation of the French verb sacrer is "to consecrate". However, in Quebec it is the proper word for the form of profanity used in Quebec French. The noun form is sacre.
Quebec French uses a number of the same types of foul language as in standard French, dealing with sex and excrement (such as merde, "shit", which is sometimes pronounced marde in Quebec French, rather as the Irish say "shite"). These are usually rather mild, and stronger profanity is expressed using words from Catholic religion and liturgy. This usage of religion for profanity is also present in Acadian French, mostly spoken in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Contents |
[edit] History
The sacrés originated in the early 19th century in a time when the social control exerted by the Catholic clergy was increasingly a source of frustration. One of the oldest sacrés is sacrament, which can be thought of as a Quebec French "goddamn it". It was in use as far back as the 1830s as far as is known. The word "sacrer" in its current meaning is believed to come from the expression Ne dites pas ça, c'est sacré ("Don't say that, it is sacred/holy"). Eventually, sacrer started to refer to the thing francophone Quebecois were not supposed to say. This is more than probably related to the commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain" (Exodus 20:7). The influence and social importance of the Catholic religion at that time allowed sacrés to become powerful forms of profanity.
As a result of the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s, the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec has declined. This has had no effect, however, on the use of sacrés, which is as widespread as ever.
[edit] List of common sacres
These sacre are given in a phonetic spelling to indicate the differences in pronunciation from the original word, several of which, notably the deletion of final consonants and change of [ɛ] to [a] before /r/ are typical of slangish Quebec French.
- crisse (Christ) - "Christ"
- câlice (calice) - "chalice"
- ostie (hostie) - "host"
- ciboire - "ciborium" or "pyx", the receptacle in which the host is stored
- tabarnac (tabernacle) - "tabernacle"
- calvaire - "Calvary"
- viarge (vierge) - "the Virgin Mary"
- baptême - "baptism"
- ciarge (cierge) - "votive or Paschal candle"
- maudit - "damn"
- Mozusse (Moïse)- "Moses"
[edit] Mild forms
Most terms in sacre have modified, milder euphemistic forms (see minced oath). Such forms are not usually considered nearly as rude as the original, with the exception of simonak. An English language example of this would be to say mad as heck instead of mad as hell.
- tabarnac: tabarnouche, tabarslaque, simonac, tabarouette, tabarnache, barnak, tabarnane, tabeurn , batarnak
- crisse: cristie, crime, criff, crimpuff
- ciboire: cibolle, cibollaque
- câlice: câline, câlif, câlique, câline de bine
- baptême: batinse, batêche
- ostie: titi, esti, estifie, ostique
- calvaire: calvâsse, calvinsse, calvinouche, calvinisse,calverasse
- sacrament: sacrifice, sacramouille , sac à papier
- maudit: maudine, mautadine, mautadite
Tabarnac and ciboire are sometimes melded into taboire, ironically regarded as only a mild curse. It can also be noted that some people make up phrases that sound innocuous like cinq à six boîtes de tomates vartes (literally, "between 5 and 6 boxes of green tomatoes", varte being slang for verte, "green"). This phrase when pronounced quickly by a native speaker sounds like saint-ciboire de tabarnac.
[edit] Use
A very strong way to express anger or frustration is to use the words tabarnac, sacrament, and câlice (in any order). Depending on the context and the tone of the phrases, it might make everybody quiet, but some people use those words to add rhythm to sentences.
Usually, more than one of these words is used in an expression. The words are simply connected with de (of), without any restrictions. Long strings of invective can be connected in this way, and the resulting expression doesn't have to have any concrete meaning; for example, Mon ostie de saint-sacrament de câlice de crisse! Non-religious terms may also be strung together in this way, as in mon crisse de char est brisé ("my damn car is broken/fucked up").
Interestingly, the word fucké (with meanings varying from "crazy, disturbed" to "broken down") is much milder than "fuck" is in English, and is routinely used in, for instance, TV sitcom dialogue. The same goes for shit (which in Quebec French is used only as an interjection expressing dismay, never as the noun for excrement). Even English-language dialogue containing these words can appear on Quebec French-language television without bleeping: for example, when, in 2003, punks rioted in Montreal because a concert by the band The Exploited had been cancelled, TV news reporters solemnly read out a few lyrics and song titles from their album Fuck the System. However, the same is not true of Quebec's English-language television stations, which follow the same guidelines as other stations in Canada.
[edit] Non-swearing uses
A slang term with the preposition en means "a lot of": d'la bouffe en tabarnak (or en crisse, etc.) means "a lot of food".
Sacres are often used as verbs too. For example, câlisser une volée means to beat up. There are constructions like décrisser which means to leave or to destroy, using the dé prefix, which is about separation. Others include, s'en câlicer or s'en crisser ("not give a fuck"), déconcrisser. Some are even found as adverbs: crissement meaning very or fucking as in this is fucking sweet.
These expressions are found less commonly in literature, but rappers and other singers often use crisse and câlice as a rhyme. More traditional singers also use these words, for example Plume Latraverse.
One fine example of the use of sacres as different word classes is a dialogue by Les Cyniques called Le cours de sacres. The phrase Jules, étant irrité, a expulsé violemment Jacques qui était en colère ("Jules, who was irritated, violently ejected Jacques who was angry") becomes Le sacrament qui était en calvaire a calissé dehors l'ostie en tabarnac.
[edit] Sacres outside Quebec French
The use of liturgical profanity is not unique to Quebec French. In Italian, although to a lesser extent, some analogue words are in use: in particular "ostia" (host) and "sacramento" are quite common expressions, which are lighter (and a little less common) than the typical blasmephies in use in Italy like "porco Dio" and "porca Madonna" (see: Italian profanity). Also the process of modifying the terms in euphemistic equivalents is in use in Italy: for example "ostia" is commonly modified in "osteria". The word "sacramento" has also produced the verb "sacramentare", which colloquially means to use blasphemy.
A few other dialects in the world also feature this kind of profanity, for instance the expression Kruzifix noch einmal in Austro-Bavarian. La hostia is an expletive expression in some Spanish dialects. In Catalan, hòstia is used and is frequently abbreviated to osti.
Sheila Fischman's translation of La Guerre, Yes Sir! (published under that title in both French and English, but meaning roughly "War, you bet!") by Roch Carrier leaves many sacres in the original Quebec French, since they have no real equivalent in English. She gives a brief explanation and history of these terms in her introduction, including a few not listed here.
Irish Catholics of old employed a similar practice, whereby 'ejaculations' were used to express frustration without cursing or profaning (taking the Lord's name in vain). This typically involved the recitation of a rhyming couplet, where a shocked person might say 'Jesus who, for love of me/Died on the Cross at Calvary' instead of 'Jesus!' Amusingly, this is often abbreviated simply to 'Jesus-hoo-fer-luv-a-me', an expression still heard among elderly Irish people.
