French Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

French language. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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hypergonar n. Chrétien’s “hypergonar” adapters made use of an optical trick called anamorphosis, whereby a curved lens placed in front of an ordinary camera could squeeze a large field of vision into the frame. Another lens, affixed to the projector, would reverse the process, spreading out the image onto an extended screen. [English French Entertainment Media Movies] [full cite] (Apr. 26, 2004)

jet-people n.pl. L’actuel drame haïtien doit requérir l’attention et la réflexion de l’opinion publique internationale. Autant par son ampleur—plus de 100 000 réfugiés (40 000 boat-people vers les Etats-Unis, 60 000 foot-people vers la République dominicaine, 2 000 jet-people vers l’Europe, essentiellement vers la France)—que par sa complexité historique, économique et politique. [English-derived French Aviation Politics] [full cite] (Apr. 26, 2006)

jiggy-vous n. “Jiggy-vous.“ That pie slice of French-Canadian patois was a favorite saying of the teenage Gordon Lightfoot. It means “all right.“ [French Canada] [full cite] (Apr. 20, 2007)

jolie-laide adj. Simon Doonan, Barneys creative director, says pugs are “very jolie-laide.“ That’s a French term for a woman who is oddly attractive though not conventionally beautiful. And that, says Doonan, “is very much what is happening in fashion right now.“ [French Apparel, Appearance, & Fashion] [full cite] (May. 6, 2006)

jupinalle n. In most languages the terms used for mobile phones reflect their two salient features: mobility and intimacy. Finnish teenagers called mobile phones “jupinalle” (meaning yuppie teddy bears); now they call them “kannykka” or “kanny”, a Nokia trademark that passed into generic parlance and means extension of the hand. In German, a mobile is a “handy”; in Arabic it’s “el mobile”, but also “sayaar” or “makhmul”, terms that refer to portability. In Japanese it is “keitai denwa”, a carried telephone. It all adds up to an exhilarating feeling of liberty: call anyone, any time, from anywhere. [French Technology] [full cite] (May. 14, 2004)

mecenat n. The Korean Business Council for the Arts, a private nonprofit group founded in 1994 to foster relationships between businesses and the arts communities, conducted a survey of 500 domestic companies and cultural foundations to determine their level of “mecenat,“ a French word meaning “sponsorship.“ It released the results yesterday. [French Money & Finance] [full cite] (Jul. 2, 2005)

microbullage n. Micro-oxygenation (also known as micro-ox or by the French term microbullage) involves a machine developed in France that dispenses tiny, precise amounts of oxygen. [French Food & Drink] [full cite] (Aug. 25, 2005)

mistelle n. Pedneault also produces an iced apple mistelle—with alcohol added to bring it to 20 per cent and served frosty, it’s Quebec’s version of ice wine—and is often paired on local menus with foie gras. [French Food & Drink] [full cite] (Oct. 1, 2008)

nid-de-poule n. Quebecers have coined many terms for the holes: small ones are called nid-de-poule, or hen’s nest, while larger ones are called ostrich nests. [French Canada Automobiles & Transportation] [full cite] (Mar. 21, 2005)

nuit Américaine n. The name “Day for Night” comes from a beloved François Truffaut film. But it’s the translated, English-language title. The film’s original title, “La Nuit Américaine,“ is the French term for a Hollywood trick of shooting night scenes during the day. [French Entertainment] [full cite] (Mar. 5, 2006)

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