#tho ig maybe you’re not expecting people who aren’t from québec to know it bc it’s such a regional thing?

[nothingweirdhere]

honestly one of the greatest joys of speaking another language is surprising people who assume you can’t understand them xD

like i was in cadets yeah? and every summer i’d go stay on a military base for training, and ofc there’re people from all over the country there. so at one point a few guys in the flight as well as our officer are talking & they realize they all speak french so they switch languages right? 

well i was doing something nearby & lowkey eavesdropping—i would’ve joined in but i can’t hold a conversation at a fluent pace so i didn’t bother, but i was having fun trying to understand what they were saying—when the officer, who was usually very strict and proper, says “tabarnak,” which is basically the strongest curse word that exists in québécois (it literally means tabernacle, which is where the eucharist—the body and blood of christ—are stored in a catholic church, but is used kinda like the word fuck in english. all the strongest curse words in québec french are related to catholicism)

so i look at him with this huge exaggerated gasp & say “sir” in the most scandalized tone i can muster, and this poor man oh my god. he WHIPS AROUND to look at me with the most stricken expression on his face like “YOU SPEAK FRENCH?! WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING” and i just shrug and go “you didn’t ask”

it’s been years and i’m still laughing about it 💀💀💀

#it was seriously funny #and ofc i wasn’t actually offended but i was very shocked to hear him swear #so i was playing it up a bit but that was my automatic reaction #but i didn’t expect HIM to be so shocked that i understood #ig they thought they were the only francophones around? #which i mean. idk if i would be considered a francophone because i’m not fluent #but like. you don’t need to be fluent to recognize the most profane curse word that exists in québécois xD #tho ig maybe you’re not expecting people who aren’t from québec to know it bc it’s such a regional thing? #and like yeah basically everyone in canada learns french in school no matter what province you’re from #but they definitely aren’t teaching you the sacres #so i can see how it would be unexpected but also. people think that a conversation held in public in a different language is private #it isn’t xD you never know who might understand you #so yeah. very very funny #jx.txt #edit: i said basically the strongest only bc you can stack curse words for greater effect #so if you said something like ‘hostie de crisse de câlice de tabarnak’ ofc that is much stronger #but when it comes to individual words tabarnak is absolutely the strongest #it’s stronger than fuck is in english. more in line with motherfucker i’d say? #(funnily enough in french—in canada at least—fuck isn’t officially considered a curse word. you can say it on tv/the radio/etc uncensored)