Chapter 6: Très Chic: Shopping and Urban Culture – L’Immersion
L’Immersion – Immersion
Getting with the Program: Cultural Trends and “Verlan”
Le Film du Jour: Film of the Day
“Persepolis”
Persepolis might ring a bell for you. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 80th Academy Awards, and Time rated it one of the top ten films of 2007. The accolades multiply in number when we turn our attention to France. The film was heralded as a cinematic masterpiece and a modern take on contemporary French culture.
Adapted from a comic of the same name, the film itself is animated, but do not let that fool you. The plot touches on political upheaval, revolution, and violence. Set against the backdrop of the 1970’s Iranian Revolution, this autobiographical tale weaves the coming-of-age story of a headstrong young girl who becomes a counter-cultural modern woman. While it stands as a unique history lesson for those unfamiliar with Iranian history, it also stands as a testament to the diverse cultural representations present in French culture. Startling and cheeky all at once, this film is an informative enchantment.
La Musique du Jour: Music of the Day
Jeanne Cherhal
2015 has been good to Jeanne Cherhal. Her most recent album landed her as a contender for “Best Female Artist” at the 2015 Victoire de la Musique (the French version of the Grammy’s). Shortly before that, she was named a chevalier (knight) by the French Minister of Culture, which is a pretty big deal. It has been a slow-build, but Cherhal has worked her way into the highest echelons of French music culture, just like the greats that influence her iconic sound.
Cherhal is firmly rooted in the nouvelle chanson (new song) movement, which is characterized by vocals and instrumentals reminiscent of old-school French songwriters. What puts the “nouvelle” in “nouvelle chanson” is witty, wry lyrics full of theatricality and spunk. This genre produces ballads for modern France, and this is where Cherhal has had so much success. Her captivating live performances are filled with refreshing takes on French cabaret à la Regina Spektor.
Her debut album, Jeanne Cherhal (2001), has a decidedly Edith Piaf-esque sound. Douze Fois par An (2004) picked up the Victoire la Musique for Best New Artist. With L’eau (2006) and Charade (2007), she experiments with avant-garde to great effect. And, finally, Historie de J (2014) is her latest offering, which harkens back to her earlier focus on retro influences. It is definitely worth a listen. “Quand c’est non, c’est non” is a great place to start.
L'Activité du Jour: Activity of the Day
Jouer avec le Verlan: Play with Verlan
Yesterday, we touched briefly on Stromae’s name being an excellent example of verlan, which you will remember is the inversion of syllables to create new French words. Not only is it a great way to recognize patterns and pronunciation in French words, it is also a fun way to show a heightened level of mastery of the French language. Unlike pig Latin, which really is not widely used in English, certain verlan words have become a part of the everyday ins and outs of the French language. Because of this, our goal today is to play around with verlan to create our own words and learn some of the staples. So, whip out some paper and a pen and zyva (or vas-y, meaning go)!
The easiest way to verlan a word is to:
- 1Separate the syllables
- 2Reverse the syllables
- 3Put the word back together
- 4Eradicate any unnecessary letters
- 5Add/change letters as needed
To ensure that the word reflects its pronunciation, verlaned words are often tweaked. This usually means that some letters are dropped and replaced with letters that make more sense pronunciation-wise. There really is not much of a rhyme or reason to this, so it is either based on the established verlan or, in the case of you creating your own, your own creativity.
“Verlan” itself is a verlan of l’envers, or reverse, so let’s try creating it:
Original: l’envers
Separate: l’en…vers
Flip: vers…l’en
Combine: versl’en
Simplify: verslen
Eradicate: verlen
Finish: verlan
As you can see, verlan ends up being a word puzzle of sorts. Let’s try another:
Original: sortir (to leave)
Separate: sor…tir
Flip: tir…sor
Combine: tirsor
Finish: tirsor
Note that tirsor did not need any additional changes due to its pronunciation flowing well.
Now for today’s activity! Look through your French dictionary and find some words that speak to you. Try your hand at turning these into verlan. It is not about making it perfect, so get creative and have fun with it. This exercise is a great way to really get you focusing on phonetics and diction without having to whip out a dry, boring textbook. Becoming comfortable with a language involves a lot of toying around with it until it is not so intimidating anymore, and verlan exaggerates what our brains naturally do to try and make sense of words and sounds.
Here are some notable examples of verlan. Since these are all slang terms, it goes without saying that you can use them at your own discretion. In the right situation, they are super looc (super cool, that is).
French Verlan
Listen to Track 99
balpeau – verlan of “peau de balle”
meaning: nothing, zip
barjot – verlan of “jobard”
meaning: crazy, insane
une cecla – verlan of “une classe”
meaning: class
céfran – verlan of “français”
meaning: French
chanmé – verlan of “méchant”
meaning: mean, nasty
chébran – verlan of “branché”
meaning: cool, plugged in
chelou – verlan of “louche”
meaning: shady, dubious
un skeud – verlan of “un disque”
meaning: record, album
fais ièche – verlan of “fais chier”
meaning: it's boring, annoying
geudin – verlan of “dingue”
meaning: crazy
un kebla – verlan of “un Black” (from English)
meaning: black person
kéblo – verlan of “bloqué”
meaning: blocked, caught
un keuf (now feuk) – verlan of “un flic”
meaning: police officer (equivalent to cop, copper, pig)
un keum – verlan of “un mec”
meaning: guy, dude
laisse béton – verlan of “laisse tomber”
meaning: forget it, drop it
une meuf – verlan of “une femme”
meaning: woman, wife
ouf – verlan of “fou”
meaning: crazy
pécho – verlan of “une chopper”
meaning: to steal; to get caught
le pera – verlan of “le rap”
meaning: rap (music)
relou – verlan of “lourd”
meaning: heavy
un reuf – verlan of “un frère”
meaning: brother
une reum – verlan of “une mère”
meaning: mother
un reup – verlan of “un père”
meaning: father
une reus – verlan of “une sœur”
meaning: sister
ripou – verlan of “pourri”
meaning: rotten, corrupt
la siquemu / la sicmu /zikmu – verlan of “la musique”
meaning: music
une teuf – verlan of “une fête”
meaning: party
une tof – verlan of “une photo”
meaning: photograph
le tromé – verlan of “le metro”
meaning: subway
zarbi – verlan of “bizarre”
meaning: strange
À plus! (See you later!)