# A little help with French **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2007, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553 "2007-09-09T09:34:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![seenidog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2007, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/1 "2007-09-09T09:34:48Z")
Anyone speak French? I need a French phrase for “Plastered in Paris”, as opposed to “Plaster of Paris.” Don’t ask, it would be a very long story to no point. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2007, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/2 "2007-09-09T11:07:26Z")
Paqueté en Paris (paquete means ‘packaged’, technically, but is idiomatically ‘drunk’, which I assume is the meaning of plastered you’re going for) ---
**Author:** ![seenidog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/3 "2007-09-09T15:08:53Z")
Thank you **Diomedes**. Your assumption of the meaning I was looking for was entirely correct. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/4 "2007-09-09T18:45:41Z")
Sorry to rain on the parade, but “paquete en Paris” (sorry about the accents, but I don’t know how to put them on this computer) is not France French. It is Quebec French (and it should be "paquete **a** Paris, with an _accent grave_ on the **a** ). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/5 "2007-09-09T18:49:09Z")
“Bourré a Paris” is likely recognizable in either France or Quebec and has esentially the same literal and slang leanings. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/6 "2007-09-09T18:52:22Z")
[QUOTE=detop] Sorry to rain on the parade, but “paquete en Paris” (sorry about the accents, but I don’t know how to put them on this computer) is not France French. It is Quebec French (and it should be "paquete **a** Paris, with an _accent grave_ on the **a** ). [/QUOTE] Sorry, I learned most of my French from watching Canadian TV coming across Lake Ontario. They use French other places? I gots no excuse for putting en instead of a, other than posting at butt-clock in the mornin’. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/7 "2007-09-09T20:23:34Z")
**RickJay** ’s answer seems to be correct (but I would like to have it confirmed by **clairobscur** to be sure). **Diomedes** , don’t worry about it, it would be a perfectly understandable sentence if you substituted Montreal for Paris 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/8 "2007-09-09T20:42:30Z")
_Bourré_ à Paris is the correct translation. _Bourré_ is the current slang for “drunk”. Never heard of “paqueté”. ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/9 "2007-09-09T21:33:28Z")
“Bourré” for “drunk” would be correct slang for France and understood by most people in Québec, but you will very seldom hear it in Québec. “Paqueté” is typical Québécois French language, and would not be understood by most in France. “Saoul” (pronounced “soo”, mute _a_ and _l_) would be understood on both sides of the Atlantic, though it is not very slang-ish. ---
**Author:** ![seenidog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/10 "2007-09-10T01:22:52Z")
Wow! I never expected this kind of response. To **Diomedes** , being ex military I have heard “Zero-dark hundred” many a time. I never heard of “Butt o’clock in the morning” before. Had me LMAO. One more request from you learned souls. How do I pronounce “Bourré à Paris”? Is it like "Boo-ray ah Paree? ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/11 "2007-09-10T01:25:40Z")
[QUOTE=seenidog] How do I pronounce “Bourré à Paris”? Is it like "Boo-ray ah Paree? [/QUOTE] Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/12 "2007-09-10T08:58:35Z")
Good pronunciation. Now, **seenidog** , _vous avez piqué ma curiosité_. What really happened in Paris? ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-french/418553/13 "2007-09-10T12:42:39Z")
[QUOTE=Intelligently Designed] “Saoul” (pronounced “soo”, mute _a_ and _l_) would be understood on both sides of the Atlantic, though it is not very slang-ish. [/QUOTE] Too bad the OP didn’t go to South Korea 😛