# a question for french speakers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-french-speakers/411941>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 16, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-french-speakers/411941 "2007-07-16T05:00:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-french-speakers/411941/21 "2010-05-25T17:39:30Z")

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> [@Lazz](#):
>
> Une bite is slang for penis in french

Oh yeah, that’s true. I didn’t make the link as “bite” and “bibite” are two different words. And “bite” isn’t very much used in Canadian French dialects, but I was aware of what it meant anyway.

ETA:

> [@](#):
>
> and I admit that since I don’t know much of french-canadian, I first though bibite was a wordplay on that.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think I would call my granddaughter “my little cock”. 😉

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**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-french-speakers/411941/22 "2010-05-25T17:44:53Z")

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> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> Hmmm…Zombie bebete…

Zombitte?

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**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-french-speakers/411941/23 "2010-05-25T21:14:55Z")

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> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#):
>
> Canadian French, very common.  
> …
> 
> That one is used everywhere people speak French. “Fesse” means “buttock”.  
> …

I remember one French Canadian woman from New Brunswick telling her daughter what sounded like “cache tes feche” or more likely was “cache tes fesse” to close her legs while wearing a skirt. I suspect she thought I would ot understand what she was telling her, but it gave me a good hint toward vocabulary expansion.

In this case, it seemed less aimed at the buttocks than a more general or more specific meaning.

“Fanny” apparently does not mean the same in other British countries as it does in North America either…

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**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-french-speakers/411941/24 "2010-05-25T22:00:11Z")

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“Fesse” does mean “buttock”, but I guess that in this case it may be used as a euphemism for the whole area, by metonymy. “Cache tes parties” (“hide your parts”) would also have worked, but it’s kind of cruder and I wouldn’t expect to hear a mother say it to her daughter; it’d sound weird in this context anyway. So I can see “cache tes fesses” (I’m not sure what word **I** would have used), but _fesse_ in itself, devoid of context, means “buttock” and nothing else.

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