# Dopers in France (or Canada): What are "Les Puceaux"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-in-france-or-canada-what-are-les-puceaux/395816 "2007-03-13T23:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-in-france-or-canada-what-are-les-puceaux/395816/1 "2007-03-13T23:38:24Z")
I’ve been clicking around on youtube looking for French cartoons. Ever seen Spongebob Squarepants in French? It’s hysterical! And a good way to practice listening to spoken French. The search led me to another cartoon in French, called “Les Puceaux”. [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9k_yFL88aM) an example of it. Judging by their actions, I can pretty much get the gist of what’s going on in this particular episode, but can anyone tell me anything more about this particular cartoon? It looks pretty darned funny. Is it popular or just an obscure web cartoon? All the websites I find regarding it are in colloquial French, and I don’t speak it well enough to get an idea. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-in-france-or-canada-what-are-les-puceaux/395816/2 "2007-03-14T05:55:45Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] can anyone tell me anything more about this particular cartoon? It looks pretty darned funny. Is it popular or just an obscure web cartoon? [/QUOTE] As I’m definitely not in the target audience, I can’t say for sure if this is completely obscure or not. “Puceau” means “male virgin”. They’re speaking a condensed form of Parisian street slang, so don’t feel bad if you can’t make out a word they’re saying. They have an official web page, though that’s written in much more standard French: [http://www.lespuceaux.com/](http://www.lespuceaux.com/) . ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-in-france-or-canada-what-are-les-puceaux/395816/3 "2007-03-14T15:21:27Z")
I’m not really their target demographic group, either, being female, fifty and an anglophone. But I confess to the guilty pleasure of sometimes watching _Beavis and Butthead_, and this looks like the French version of that famous duo. I’ll see if I can’t translate from that website a little. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-in-france-or-canada-what-are-les-puceaux/395816/4 "2007-03-14T15:52:23Z")
Even with the sound off, there’s some obvious funny bits – the kid with the female reproductive system diagram taped to the tide of his computer makes a lot more sense once I read what “Les Puceaux” meant. I wonder if the phonological similarity to English “pussy” is coincidental? Looking at the YouTube comments for that video was my first exposure to French Leet: “pkoi” = “pourquoi”. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-in-france-or-canada-what-are-les-puceaux/395816/5 "2007-03-15T00:35:02Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] I wonder if the phonological similarity to English “pussy” is coincidental? [/QUOTE] It’s coincidental. The words _puceau_/_pucelle_, originally meaning young man/woman are very old – they show up as-is as far back as the 11th century. The feminine form was especially common in the middle ages, when it refered to any woman not yet married. According to the Littré dictionary the etymology goes like this: Low latin: _pullicella_, diminutive of _pulla_ from classical latin _pullus_ meaning young child or animal. The same word _pullus_, also became _poule_ (hen), from which you get _poulet_ (chicken), from which came the English word “poultry”.