# Question about some French slang I just heard....
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-some-french-slang-i-just-heard/359670
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 6, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-some-french-slang-i-just-heard/359670 "2006-06-06T21:22:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-some-french-slang-i-just-heard/359670/1 "2006-06-06T21:22:59Z")
Well, my girlfriend and I just subscribed for the three months of three Canal+ that came with our cable since we’ll be leaving in a month.
We finally saw _Brice de Nice_, and I thought it was really funny (it was no _Dîner des Cons_). One thing that made me laugh every time was the “Ca farte?” in place of “Ca va?” or “Ca roule?”
What I’m wondering is where that came from. Was that made up for the movie, or was it around before?
Did it come from “fart” in english or from the French/Norwegian for ski wax?
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### Author:  [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-some-french-slang-i-just-heard/359670/2 "2006-06-08T18:59:55Z")
Nothing? Really?
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-some-french-slang-i-just-heard/359670/3 "2006-06-08T19:01:43Z")
As a Frenchie of the Canadian variety, I can tell you that I’ve never heard that expression around here.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-some-french-slang-i-just-heard/359670/4 "2006-06-08T19:20:06Z")
“To fart” in French is _péter_; \*farte \* does not appear in a list of [French vulgarities](http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/French/Vocabulary/French-Uncensored.html) (possibly Not Safe for Work if you are in France or Quebec).
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### Author:  [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-some-french-slang-i-just-heard/359670/5 "2006-06-08T21:37:56Z")
[This discussion](http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=82750) on [WordReference.com](http://WordReference.com) suggests that it was coined by the comedian [Jean Dujardin](http://www.jean-dujardin.com/) specifically for his surfer-dude character **Brice de Nice**. According to the latter site (in French, with popups so I can’t give the relevant URLs), the character dates back to 1995 but is best known from the [2005 film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412535/) of the same name (as mentioned in the OP).
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### Author:  [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-some-french-slang-i-just-heard/359670/6 "2006-06-08T22:24:21Z")
As to the origin: since the French verb _farter_ does indeed mean “to apply wax to skis, snowboards, etc”, it’s a fair assumption that this is the etymological source of surfer-snowboarder Brice’s cathchphrase, even if it doesn’t appear to have been used for “How’s it hangin’” until Dujardin coined it.