http://theweek.com/article/index/245...mber_246756794

It is not petite, it is petit.

<<Patenteux: This term is specific to Québécois French and describes a certain type of resourceful person who can fix your sink or repair your carburetor with nothing but the lint in his pocket and a stick of gum. A MacGyver, if you will.>>

I wonder if cold would describe himself in these terms?

Those are the fun words. Naturally there were plenty of mundane words as well.

Oh, I thought this thread was going to deal with whores who work out of a Paris bar called Petit Robert!

Petit Robert or Gros Robert, which would you prefer if you were a French whore?

Thin

Naturally, Gros Robert
My fingers are not working so I leave out letters or hit the wrong letter. Forgot Robert's sex as someone pointed out to her satisfaction.

"Arrete ton chialage" is completely new to me. The more traditional expression is "Arrete de niaiser" - also very idiomatic Quebecois slang.

"Patenteux" seems to be a substitute for the conventional adjective "débrouillard".

Patente means "Thingamajig" - an unspecified item. "Toute la patente" is like "The full meal deal" or "The whole schmeer".

So I guess patenteux = able to cope with the random things life throws your way.

Have any of the French speakers here heard the phrase "rouler un patin" to mean kissing, as mentioned in the article?

I can honestly say that I've never heard it before, but have heard (more frequently in my younger years if I'm honest) "rouler une pelle" to mean the same thing.

It always struck me as a pretty horrible image - "'ello darlin', fancy rolling a shovel?".

It also seems that the Petit Robert are much slower to add new words to the dictionary than say the OED. As far as I've been aware (unless I'm hearing the voices again) "galoche" and "Gnagnagna" have been used for years and as I'm sure we're all aware "les plans cul" are as old as time itself...

"Have any of the French speakers here heard the phrase "rouler un patin" to mean kissing, as mentioned in the article?"

Yes, many times. It isn't new.

Thanks Pvoyageuse.

Have you heard it used by younger or older people, or by all equally? I can honestly say I've never, ever heard it.

Thanks again...

Jay G : I have heard it used by lots of people and I've used it myself. (I am French and I live in France).
The expression seems to date back to the 30's: http://www.expressio.fr/expressions/...e-escalope.php

Thanks very much for that link, really interesting reading. I like the theories behind how it came into being.

All that's left now is for me to slip it nonchalantly into a conversation as if I've always known it...

<i>Rouler un patin/une pelle</i> is the most common way to describe this event in France.

Jay G : you might also mention 'se lécher la pomme" ....

La pipe

Avaler la fumee

Thin

Keeping it classy as always Thin!

lol ! (Jay_G)

"Forgot Robert's sex... etc, etc...."

Cigale, you and your sweet comments always give me a chuckle. Much needed on this dreary, cold, dull Friday.