# French insult - petit joue? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321 "2008-08-08T19:17:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/1 "2008-08-08T19:17:20Z")
What does this French insult mean? Spelling may be wrong but I assume the literal translation is “small player” but presumably it has a slang meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/2 "2008-08-08T19:32:26Z")
It looks like it means ‘small game’. Unfortunately, I am not near my French dictionary. Can you give us some context? ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/3 "2008-08-08T19:36:03Z")
I’m just guessing, but it sounds like it may mean “little fuck.” ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/4 "2008-08-08T19:37:28Z")
I always took it to mean ‘small fry’ or ‘little guy’… ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/5 "2008-08-08T19:37:41Z")
[Google Translate](http://www.google.com/translate_t) gives “small plays.” ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/6 "2008-08-08T19:39:44Z")
Hmm not really. I think it has some kind of sexual context. It was said to me years ago by a french girl after we’d had a one night stand. I think maybe she wanted to meet again but I didn’t so she started muttering insults in french. I asked her what it meant but she just shook her head. A few years after that I asked a french guy what it meant and he started laughing but still didn’t actually tell me what it meant. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/7 "2008-08-08T19:59:50Z")
“Jouer” is French slang to “to ejaculate.” ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/8 "2008-08-08T21:10:37Z")
Pretty sure that’s “jouir,” not “jouer.” Any native francophone Dopers weighing in here? (I’m not fluent.) ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/9 "2008-08-08T21:31:37Z")
Are you sure it’s not chou? As in, _mon petit chou_? Literally “my little cabbage”. Notwithstanding the fact that I’m Canadian, I’ve forgotten an awful lot of my high-school French, but as I recall that’s not really an insult, more a cutesy way of calling someone something approximating “sweetheart”. The ch is soft (like sh), so you might have misheard it as joue (where the j would be pronounced more like a zh). ---
**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:** [August 8, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/10 "2008-08-08T22:23:37Z")
[QUOTE=E. Thorp] Pretty sure that’s “jouir,” not "jouer. [/QUOTE] Correct. Never heard “petit joue”, and since it’s not syntactically correct I guess the OP must have misheard. It could be “petit chou”, but that’s an odd thing to call a grown-up. Still, many of these endearing terms are rather infantile. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/11 "2008-08-08T22:44:19Z")
Much as I would like to have been her little cabbage, somehow I don’t think she was being endearing. It was more of a muttered insult as we were saying goodbye. Small fry, little guy or little fuck sound closer to the feel of it. Ah well, c’est la vie. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/12 "2008-08-08T22:47:12Z")
Also in pronounciation it was jouer or joue with an accent over the e. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/13 "2008-08-08T23:01:04Z")
“Petit jouet”, maybe? “Little toy”, maybe with the intention of it meaning something like “little dick”? Though I’ve never heard of this phrase in this context, it’s the only think I can come up with! ---
**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:** [August 9, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/14 "2008-08-09T01:40:03Z")
Quite possible, **mnemosyne**. I’ve never heard this expression either, but it sounds like something a French woman might say. Especially since in France French the phonetic distinction between the vowels in “jouet” and “joué” isn’t as marked as in other dialects. (In my dialect, the vowel in “jouet” would be [ɛ] while the vowel in “joué” would be [e].) ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/15 "2008-08-09T02:14:54Z")
First post, so be gentle 😉 I believe that you are thinking of petit chou, meaning “little cauliflour”. It is a term of endearment, often used for a close friend (especially a lover, although it can be used playfully to someone more distant. I hope that I’m right, or I’ve wasted my one free sign-up :smack:, and I can’t pay the subscription for various reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/16 "2008-08-09T02:17:44Z")
:smack: Just noticed that someone else already posted that. Ah well, better make the best of it. Weird threads all round! ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/17 "2008-08-09T02:22:14Z")
Just realised it’s more accurate to say “cabbage” than “cauliflour” :smack: In fairness, it past 3am here. (does this board have no edit function?) ---
**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:** [August 9, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/18 "2008-08-09T05:16:49Z")
Cauliflower is actually “chou-fleur” in French, appropriately enough. Editing your posts (during a five minute window) and searching are some of the great perks reserved for paying members here! 😃 If you can’t pay for a subscription, what you must do is impress someone here during your free month so that they decide to pay for your subscription. Or, alternatively, wait until the board becomes free-to-post, which could happen anytime from tomorrow to June 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/19 "2008-08-09T11:53:03Z")
The expression is petit joueur and it just means what is says - small player. A French friend of mine says it all the time, even translating it in English. Typical context would be ‘Eh, busy scissors, leaving so early? Stay for another drink petit joueur’ ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321/20 "2008-08-09T12:05:23Z")
Ah ok, so it means “lightweight”. Yeah that makes sense. Thanks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-insult-petit-joue/459321.md?page=2)