Pardon my French

Hello, reader! Today I'm talking about language, foul language.

There are myriad reasons to curse: to let off steam; to besmirch someone or something; to describe aptly where no other word will do; to wallow in your own creativity or crudeness or both; for the hell of it!  Recently I've found a new reason to swear - to disarm.

I have found that as a non-native, pretty nice seeming (a taxi driver recently told me that I possess a "white heart" - truly, I have the strangest transportation experiences) young woman, a well chosen swear word is the secret password, a shibboleth if you will, that let's me interact organically with the French.  I may have a funny accent, but when I call Monsieur le President "une petite merde," I'm just one of the gang.

Here are a few helpful words with gentle translations:

MERDE

1. merde - fecal matter, often used as an exclamation
2. de merde - something made of fecal matter; crummy; VDM (vie de merde) = FML
3. emmerder - to bother

CON

1. con - stupid, foolish; idiot fool; can also verge on vulgarist of vulgars so use it with caution
2. connard - a jerk
3. connerie - a stupid thing, as in "I've done something stupid"

PUTAIN - lady of the night, often used as an exclamation

BORDEL - collective home, even a dormitory of sorts, for ladies of the night

SALOPE - can translate as any unsavory word you might want to call a person of the female persuasion

Do try this at home,
Maria