Why do I need to know zizanie?
Because it sums up a particularly French aspect of life.
What does it mean?
Une zizanie - roughly pronounced oon-ziz-a-nee - is usually translated as discord or argument but it's not just a simple exchange of views, it's more of a mass dispute or (verbal) brawl in which everyone is shouting at once and no-one is listening to anyone else.
It's often used in political contexts - and is particularly useful if you have a chaotic situation with no overall majority in parliament and political groups where everyone is at each other's throats.
But it's also a word with a long history in French culture.
In 1970 a book in the Astérix cartoon series was published with the title La Zizanie (perhaps deciding that this was untranslatable, publishers brought this book out in the Anglophone world with the title Asterix and the Roman Agent).
There is also a classic 1978 film under the title of La Zizanie - featuring Louis de Funès as a man in dispute with his local préfecture, then his wife, then the entire town.
It is frequently paired with the verb semer - to sow - to mean sowing discord or driving a wedge between two people.
Use it like this
Aujourd'hui, certains députés ont tenté de politiser cette question et de l'utiliser pour semer la zizanie à la Chambre - Today we have seen certain MPs try to politicise this issue and use it to sow discord in the debating chamber.
Les manifestants ont résolus à semer la zizanie aujourd'hui - The protesters are determined to cause an argument today.
Il a invité cette femme à rester pour semer la zizanie entre nous - He invited that woman to stay just to drive a wedge between us.
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