French phrase of the Day: Les JO
You're going to be seeing this acronym more and more in France.
Why do I need to know Les JO?
Because the French capital is hosting Les JO in 2024.
What does it mean?
If you haven’t already guessed, it’s an acronym of les Jeux olympiques, or the Olympic Games. But while Anglophones usually shorten this to 'the Olympics' in France you will often see them referred to as les JO.
It’s best to get familiar with such an acronym now, as newspaper headlines often refer to the games as les JO, and this will become more frequent in the run-up to 2024.
The below headline reads 'For the 2024 Paris Olympics, 30,000 police officers will be on duty every day'.
Pour les JO de Paris 2024, 30.000 policiers seront mobilisés chaque jour via @20minutesSport https://t.co/S1wp4BBPPj
— 20 Minutes Sport (@20minutesSport) October 26, 2022
Les JOJ is another acronym also commonly used to describe les Jeux Olympiques de la Jeunesse or, as we know it in English, The Youth Olympic Games.
The French love a good acronyme, most likely due to the long length of words within the language, and such abbreviations are abound within the French language, from colloquial speech, to within newspapers and in political discussions.
Use it like this
82% des habitants de Seine-Saint-Denis se disent favorables à l’organisation des JO - 82 percent of the inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis [the suburbs to the north of Paris where several of the Games events are being held] say they are in favour of organising the Games
Comments
See Also
Why do I need to know Les JO?
Because the French capital is hosting Les JO in 2024.
What does it mean?
If you haven’t already guessed, it’s an acronym of les Jeux olympiques, or the Olympic Games. But while Anglophones usually shorten this to 'the Olympics' in France you will often see them referred to as les JO.
It’s best to get familiar with such an acronym now, as newspaper headlines often refer to the games as les JO, and this will become more frequent in the run-up to 2024.
The below headline reads 'For the 2024 Paris Olympics, 30,000 police officers will be on duty every day'.
Pour les JO de Paris 2024, 30.000 policiers seront mobilisés chaque jour via @20minutesSport https://t.co/S1wp4BBPPj
— 20 Minutes Sport (@20minutesSport) October 26, 2022
Les JOJ is another acronym also commonly used to describe les Jeux Olympiques de la Jeunesse or, as we know it in English, The Youth Olympic Games.
The French love a good acronyme, most likely due to the long length of words within the language, and such abbreviations are abound within the French language, from colloquial speech, to within newspapers and in political discussions.
Use it like this
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.