I thought I’d done another lesson on “truc” and “bidule”, but actually those were from a comment by Leon on Lesson 3 back in the heady days of 2014.
Moving swiftly on, here’s my word of the moment: “Mec” (pron: “Meck”).
It means “guy” or “bloke” in English (or “chap” if you’re of a certain age) and – like “bidule”, “truc” and “machin” – when you’ve heard it once, you’ll hear it all the time. Use it, and you may get raised eyebrows from people impressed with your slang. But be careful, or you’ll quickly get lost in a sea of “machins”.
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June 9, 2015 at 1:12 pm
With an alternative if you’re young-ish: “keum” which is the reverse pronunciation of [mek].
It’s called the “Verlan”, an old slang which consists in inverting syllabs:
Femme => Meuf
Mec =>Keum
Flics (slang for cops)=> Keufli.
Careful. It’s really low language and if you use it you want to show you’re young, cool and a rebel… (-ish). As a foreigner use it with humour with french friends but not with your posh step mother…
June 9, 2015 at 1:27 pm
Thanks Leon. I heard “Meuf” the other day in a bar. And the girl turned round and laid into the “Keum” who said it. So I guess it’s not something to be used person to person either. I know a couple of other verlan words, too. But not for repeating here…