It’s funny - I consider myself more an Anglo Québécois than a French one, but when I’m pissed off, all that comes out is French.
One of my absolute favorite moments ever was when a French exchange student from Lyon whom I’d taken under my wing for her semester at McGill finally got mad, Quebec-style. Hearing her little French voice say "tabarnac!!!" was so much fun!
For some reason swearing in France is very prostitution focussed -
All purpose - ‘Putain de bordel de merde !’ (whore of whorehouse of shit)
Cut yourself while fixing a camembert sandwich - ‘Putain !’ (whore)
Plans go awry - ‘C’est quoi ce boxon ?!’ - (what’s this whorehouse ?)
Sodomy gets second place - ‘Enculé de merde !’ - (shit buttfucked)
And some expressions are just weird - ‘C’est quoi ce plan à la mord-moi-le-noeud ?!’ - (what is this bite-my-dick setup ?)
I guess that’s why Canadian swearing sounds ‘cute’ to French ears - you have to go way out in the countryside and listen to old people to hear any church related swearing (doux Jesus etc).
I guess it would sound similarly weird if I started shouting ‘Whorehouse !’ when I get angry - hey, maybe I should give it a try !
Can anybody recommend any TV shows or movies for learning Canadian French ?
Another nice sweary HK Cantonese twist is to put “lun” into other constructions. I believe “lun” means “prick” on its own (though “gau” is more normal), but adding it into something else gives it the air of insult.
“Chi sin” (lit. Crossed wires) means crazy. “Chi lun sin” means “You fucking crazy bastard.”
“Fai di” means “hurry up”, but “fai lun di” means “hurry the FUCK up”.
“Tai gwai” means “too expensive”, whereas “tai lun gwai” means “are you out of your mind, you rip-off artiste!”. Etc.