French Euphemisms: Very Embarrassing Expressions

Interesting blog. As a child growing up in France, I remember ‘avoir mis les pieds dans le plat’ several times because I did not know some of the above phrases. My father, a WW2 veteran, regularly used ‘clamser’, ‘mettre l’arme a gauche’, etc. so at least with him I knew where things stood, my mother and her churchy clique on the other hand loved euphemisms such as ‘partir pour un long voyage’, very confusing for a child who has relatives who live overseas. BTW I loved ‘les anglais ont debarque’ in the comments, I will teach it to some of my colleagues on Monday (in English they say ‘it’s that time of the month’). At work in France, when someone was grumpy (including male managers etc.), we used to say ‘tu as tes regles aujourd’hui?’ or even ‘il a ses regles tout le temps!”.
More seriously, I find Brits are far more reluctant to discuss death and dying matters than French people. To the point where, if you have a cancer diagnosis, and need to take time off work for treatment, HR will refuse to let you, with arguments like ‘you don’t look like you have cancer: they must have made a mistake’, ‘it’s the treatment that kills the patient’, ‘if you want a holiday, you have to resign and you must give 6 months’ notice’. Sadly I have seen people die in A&E (lots of time on a stretcher, no pain control because of the risk of inducing a respiratory depression, totally useless and brutal artificial ventilation and CPR), because they or their doctors would not discuss the fact that they were ‘condamnes’, terminally ill, and should look at palliative care options. Some people I know did not even make a will, because they were adamant they were ‘in remission’ or would be ‘cured’ if they survived x years and I have even heard of people who were never told that they only had x months left to live, and booked expensive holidays overseas as they expected to get better once the treatment (chemo that was meant to be palliative, not curative) was over. The elephant in the room, as they say. Two phrases that I absolutely loathe when discussing cancer patients’ deaths are ‘gained her angel wings’ and ‘lost the fight’. So one thing to bear in mind when you visit a GP/consultant in England is that they might not give you the full picture. In France I think it’s a bit easier as you often see the same GP for years, so by the time you have something serious, they know you and can be frank, and they can also spend a whole hour discussing findings, prognosis, treatment options and outcomes (same thing at the hospital where they make a lot of time for you) whereas in the UK you feel there is a timer. I’ll keep an eye on your future posts, I am afraid of forgetting my French at times!

Excellent video Geraldine! Une petite question – “elle nous a quittés” – normalement “quitté” devrait être sans “s”?

Je ai récemment visité ma fille à Lille. Vos vidéos ont été très utiles pour me préparer à cette visite. Je étais capable de communiquer assez bien, et quand ne pas, ma fille étais là en tant que traductrice!

‘Il c’est cassé sa pipe’ is another one for someone who has died or been killed. ‘ Sa pipe tomba et se cassa’ refers to someone being shot and allowing their presumably clay pipe to fall from their lips and break.