History InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike / RealLifeFrench

* The French word for 'seal' (the animal) is ''phoque'' [fɔk], which sounds like ''fuck''. This has led to Quebecois teenagers wearing shirts that read, ''"Ouate de phoque"'' (sounds like "What the fuck"), a nonsense phrase that means "cotton batting from seals." And French comedic trio Creator/LesInconnus made a memorable sketch out of it.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Ukrain|e}}ian word "patron" (Патрон, "cartridge"), which became known worldwide during the 2022 Russian invasion due to the famous [[UsefulNotes/MilitaryAnimals bomb-sniffing dog]] named as such. The word "patron" means "boss" (as in, your superior at work) in French.

* In a French bar or restaurant, the ''patron'' is the owner or manager, while in English-speaking countries, ''patrons'' are customers.

* "Con" is French for "dumbass" or "cunt" (though the former sees much more use), but Spanish for "with".

* "louer" is French for "to rent", pronounced something like "lu-ey"... which sounds very close to the English pronunciation of the name Louis/Louie. (In French the name is pronounced more like "lwee".)

* "Je suis excité" means the same thing as "I'm aroused" (i.e. it usually indicates

* "J'ai hâte" doesn't mean "I hate...". It means "I'm eager to...". It becomes easier to decode words with circumflexes when you remember it indicates that the vowel used to be followed by an 's'. For example hôte = host, côte = coast, etc.

* The French word for "late" is "en retard". To English speakers learning French, "en" sounds very much like "un" (the indefinite article), so "Je suis en retard" ("I am running late") sounds an awful lot like "I'm a retard".

* "J'ai hâte" doesn't mean "I hate...". It means "I'm eager to...".
* "Je suis excité" doesn't mean "I'm excited", it means "I'm sexually aroused".

* "actuellement" means "now; currently", not "actually".

** This is endlessly amusing for English-speaking schoolchildren studying French, especially in Canada (where French is frequently a required subject, and is a common choice for a second language when it isn't). A possibly apocryphal anecdote involved a (very) English-speaking member of Parliament from the Maritimes who nonetheless dropped into French during a debate about the seal harvest. Pronouncing with great emphasis, he asked, "''Est-ce que le député est conscient que nous avons des '''PHOQUES''' par-ci, des '''PHOQUES''' par là, des '''PHOQUES''' partout??!!''" (Is the honorable member aware that we have seals here, seals there, seals everywhere?) HilarityEnsued until the Speaker intervened and cautioned the MP that if he was going to keep using that word, to make very sure he was still speaking French.

* ''Roti'' refers to a food in both French and Hindi. If it's pronounced with an uvular R and written with a circumflex over the O (''rôti''), it's French for "roast [meat]"; otherwise it's Hindi for a flatbread similar to a flour tortilla.

** In Spanish they are called focas, too.