The clock is ticking. In about three weeks, my 12-year-old daughter is headed to camp up in Quebec, with the ostensible purpose of bettering her French. I’d like to give her a little head start on the lingo, if I could. I’m afraid the terms I know for things are not necessarily the terms that would be in use among 12-year-old girls in Quebec – in fact, I know they’re not. My hope is that someone a little more in tune will be able to give me a short list of indispensible terms. I’m looking for ordinary stuff, like going to the bathroom or telling other kids to get lost.
And as a special bonus, can somebody tell me what the hell Hébertisme is, and why camps are so keen on it?
Or (to offer something slightly less worthless) an invention of this guy. In the context of camp, I would presume an exercise regimen involving some kind of obstacle course.
According to the French translator I am currently working with, “Hébertisme” is a term which embraces the concepts espoused by the late Jacques Hébert (Link: http://www.cwy-jcm.org/en/aboutus/aboutus/board/hebert), one of the founders of the “Katimavik” program in Canada (Link: http://www.katimavik.org/section/index/id/1) - community service, volunteer involvement, and healthy living in community, etc.
He was a contemporary of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau and they shared many of the same ideas.
Vinyl Turnip is correct about hébertisme. It is an invention of Georges Hébert (didn’t remember his first name, but remembered that he was a French physical educator, so that’s right), and it refers to obstacle courses in a forest setting. Basically, climbing rope ladders or ropes, walking on narrow passageways or ropes at the level of trees’ branches, things like that. There are a few pictures on this page, the website of the Laflèche Caves and Aerial Park in Val-des-Monts, north of Gatineau. I guess camps are keen on it because it’s good outdoors exercise, but for someone like me who’s a bit afraid of heights, it’s kind of scary.
As for the language used by 12-year-old Quebec girls… well, some of my cousins are 12-year-old girls, and their language doesn’t seem all that different from mine, but I don’t hear them talking to their friends, so I guess I’m not the best source. I guess your daughter is going to be all right, she’s there to perfect her language anyway, so she’ll pick it up.
On second thought, your post wasn’t all that different from the following:
Sal Ammoniac: I’m sending my daughter to a camp in rural Ontario, what should she know about the language? Declan: How aboot those Timbits, eh? Repeat as necessary.
The only thing that she should know absolutely is: despite what any dictionary may tell you, and its similarity to its cognates in other languages, the verb “baiser” does not mean to kiss. It means to fuck. To kiss is “embrasser,” even though the noun “un baiser” means a kiss. (“Une baise” is a fuck.)
That one I knew about – though, mind you, I haven’t yet communicated it. In any event, it’s an all-girls camp.
And thanks to all for the info about hébertisme. I had totally the wrong idea about it. I thought it was a form of grim Parris Island-style calisthenics. It actually sounds like something she might enjoy.
And just for the record, do 12-year-olds in Quebec say tabernac? How about hostie? And just how bad are these terms in polite company, to the extent that summer camp may be considered polite company?
Well, it’s like any other language - swearing is actually kinda tricky. Swearing in French seems like it ought to be more innocent because it isn’t based on bodily functions like English swearing. Think of how people would feel about someone who says ‘fuckin’ every other word, and that’s how francophones feel about someone who overuses ‘chalice’.
Some 12 year olds may use it in an attept to seem more cool or older, and that’s tricky for someone who doesn’t speak the language to pick up on. Also, beware of someone trying to trick you into swearing without realizing it - an old practical joke, but one that never goes out of style.
As to that , she may as well be learning french. Living in Barrie its not odd to come across people speaking French in conversation and the farther north you go , its a coin toss to see what the dominant language is
Didn’t know about Barrie, but I do know that Northern Ontario is quite bilingual. I have a friend (now living in Ottawa) who’s from Timmins, as well as another friend (and some family who I barely know) living in Sudbury.
Well, their parents probably wouldn’t be very happy to hear them talk like that. Of course, when they’re at camp their parents aren’t there. No, these words aren’t very acceptable in polite company, but I wouldn’t call summer camp “polite company”. In other words, your daughter may hear swears. I couldn’t tell you which swear words are the most popular among 12-year-old girls away from their parents.
