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France’s top ten X-rated place names in English

There’s a handful of town and place names across France that regularly prompt shocked (and giggling) Anglos to pull over to the side of the road to snap a photo. So you know where they are The Local has taken a trip across France to find the naughtiest sounding French names.

Published: 2 April 2014 13:40 CEST

France's top ten X-rated place names in English

The town of Bitche in France is one of many with an X-rated English name that will have Anglos chuckling and reaching for their cameras. Photo: Google Streetview

Imagine you are driving through the Alps on your next French holiday and spot a road sign bearing a town name that doesn’t sound at all appropriate enough to be dangling in public.

Welcome to the X-rated and potentially offensive world of France’s foulest and funniest place names.

The Local has scoured the country’s 36,000 towns, cities and villages for the ones that are most likely to make Anglos wince or burst out laughing and certainly get out their cars to take a photo, as we discovered many had done in our hunt for photos.

By way of a friendly warning, certain readers may be offended by some of these words.

THE LOCAL's top ten X-rated French place names for Anglos

The French are also chuckled by many of their own village names which are often rude, bizarre and funny in their own language. Check out this gallery below.

GALLERY: France's funniest village names (in French)

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French phrases that language learners just don't get

Photo: Gustavofrazao/Depositphotos

C'est n'importe quoi

Ni'importe quoi is one of those terms we hear thrown into French sentences a lot, so we naturally try to do the same, but don't always get it right.

Often used to express exasperation, “C'est n'importe quoi!” can be a tough one for foreigners to grasp but usually means something like “That's nonsense/rubbish”. N'importe quoi by itself can also mean “whatever”.

Du coup

This filler phrase meaning something like “so” or “therefore” pops up in French conversation similarly to how “like” peppers the speech of an American teenager. It can bewilder French learners who don't understand how it can be so omnipresent yet have no actual meaning.

In this case it's not that we use it incorrectly, but more that we never use it (but would really love to) because we haven't a clue when it's appropriate.

Photo: Sara Dinu/Flickr

Quand même

Two words with so many meanings.

“Quand même is a very common and versatile French expression,” writes Laura Lawless from the French language learning section of the site Thought Co. “You can hear it several times a day, every day, and each time you think you understand all of its meanings, another one seems to come along.”

The site has a few examples to illustrate their point:

J'avais peur, mais je l'ai fait quand même.

I was afraid, but I did it anyway (or but i still did it).

C'est quand même difficile.

It's actually quite hard.

Quand même !

Really! Honestly! (disbelief, outrage)

Quel idiot, quand même !

Really, what an idiot!

Désolé(e)

This word isn't used with nearly the same frequency as “sorry” in English. The French are far more likely to say “pardon” or “excusez-moi” for everyday blunders and save désolé for when they're truly sorry for something they did.

Désolé… Photo: Flickr

Oh là là

First of all, it's not Ooh (là là) but Oh. In English this phrase has taken on a sexual innuendo, but that's not the case in French, where it's basically used for everything else. Here's a comprehensive guide on how to use these three little words.

Oh là là - How to really use the best three words in French

Visiter / rendre visite

English-speakers need to be careful not to mix these two up. “Visiter” is for a place, such as a monument or a city, while “rendre visite” is used when talking about people. If you just say you're going to visiter someone, it can have a sexual connotation.

Sacré bleu

English-speakers might whip out this phrase to express astonishment thinking it makes them sound oh-so-French, but in reality it's extremely out-dated and almost never used by French people these days, except perhaps in jest.

J'ai chaud

In English it would sound ridiculous to say “I have hot” as opposed to “I'm hot” on a sweltering day. But in French saying “Je suis chaud” could land you in trouble, as it actually translates to “I'm horny”.

Bonjour

Bonjour seems like the simplest of French words — a no-brainer, right? Au contraire. Foreigners too often get it wrong by not saying it at all (which some argue is the root cause of why French people are said to be so rude). Read this to make sure you actually know how to use the most important word in French.

And don't say it twice to the same person in the same day. Say “re-bonjour” instead.

This is by far the most important word in French

Adieu

Say this to a French person and you're wishing them a final farewell, as in you'll never see them again. Just stick with au revoir to sound a bit less dramatic.

Plus

This tricky little word consistently stumps French learners because it can mean two opposite things – either “more” or “none”, depending on whether you pronounce the 's' or not (pronouncing the s means “more”).

Putain

The greatest of French swear words is so ubiquitous that foreigners often overuse it and forget it's not meant to be used in polite company. Better safe than sorry with this one.

Je suis plein(e)

“It's common to hear an Anglophone say after a good dinner: 'Ce dîner est excellent et maintenant, je suis plein(e),' French teacher at French a la Carte Florence Harang told The Local. “But Je suis plein(e) means “I am pregnant” (and is only actually used for animals, not humans).

Saying J'ai bien mangé is far more appropriate for when you can't eat another forkful of Gallic grub.

C'est bon/c'est bien

Another couple of pesky phrases for French learners as we often confuse the two.

Camille Chevalier-Karfis, who runs the language learning website French Today says: “For this one, the answer is simple: memorise an example that rhymes. C’est bon means yummy. So remember “c’est bon le jambon” – ham is yummy.

“C’est bien means approval, so 'c’est bien Julien' or Damien, or Félicien… pick a name you know!”

C'est pas terrible

English speakers can be forgiven for getting confused with the word terrible in French, as saying “c'est pas terrible” actually means something is terrible, rather than isn't, as you would think at first.

Je suis confus

“At the question 'Vous comprenez?' ('Do you understand?') some English speakers might answer: 'Non, je suis confus' ” said Harang. “But in French this means “I am embarrassed”, not confused. They should say instead: 'Ce n'est pas très clair pour moi.'”

Au fur et à mesure

“The French expression au fur et à mesure (meaning “as/while/gradually”) is a perfect example of why you can't translate word for word from one language to another,” writes Thought Co's Laura Lawless.

“In this case, English speakers need but a single word to express something for which the French commonly use five.

“Fur is an old word meaning “rate,” and mesure means “measure” or “measurement.”

“Au fur et à mesure is less flexible than the English equivalents: you can only use it for active, progressive actions,” she added.

Examples Thought Co gives are:

Je fais la vaisselle au fur et à mesure qu'il débarrasse la table.

I do the dishes as he clears the table.

Au fur et à mesure que la fête se rapproche, ma sœur s'inquiète.

As the party draws nearer, my sister is getting impatient.

If you are confused by fewer than five of these phrases then you're doing well.

But the problem is there are far more than 17 confusing phrases in French. Can you name any more?

By Katie Warren

Another version of this story was published in 2016

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