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I'm in the Army and my wife is in the Police so swearing comes.... very easily to the pair of us. We have a (just turned) 15yr old daughter and we moderate it around her so we should be ok . Swearing in France around and between people of our generation (40yr olds) is normally very relaxed and not taken offensively. Whilst it's not a public thing when out and about, when sat amongst a group of people your comfortable with it's certainly not uncommon.
It's certainly something to bear in mind anyway.
Oh, I think she meant that the swear words are religious in origin, not that the people are very religious.
Instead of like in France where swear words are scatalogical/sexual (bordel de *****! putain!), in Quebec they are deformations of religious words: tabarnac!, câlisse!, crisse!, sacrament!, hostie!...
As for their usage it's about the same as you describe: in public people who have class don't tend to use them that much as it's considered low-brow to do so, but among friends they tend to come out. And most parents try to refrain from swearing when in front of kids, unless they get really mad of course!
Quebec was historically very Catholic but today though the church is still present the wider society is very much a post-religious secular place.
I just realised, rather belatedly, that i'll be in Montreal on Bastille Day.
Looking online there seems to be differing views on whether or not it is marked in Quebec or not. The concensus seems to be "No, not really, it's a French holiday so why would we?" However, there are also some, rarer, mentions of informal parties and a very few comments about a large costume event and gathering.
It's not really marked at all in any significant way. If you live in London, a good comparison would be the 4th of July or Australian ANZAC Day there which might be marked by expat Americans or Aussies. Some French people living in Montreal will mark it and have parties and such, and of course the media will regularly say ''bonne fête nationale à nos cousins français'', and there will be coverage of the events in Paris on TV5 and on our news channels.
But nothing major, although the fact that it is the national French holiday will be on more people's minds than in, say, Toronto or Boston.
I only pretende to speak French and on my last visit to Montreal I learned the term "chaque bord" in the context of "each side." I was told that this is a French Canadian term and not French French. Is this true? Also, "bord" was pronounced to almost sound like "bal" when I would have expected something like "bor" so it sounded like " shack ball" and so at first I thought it was some kind of hybrid sport.
I only pretende to speak French and on my last visit to Montreal I learned the term "chaque bord" in the context of "each side." I was told that this is a French Canadian term and not French French. Is this true? Also, "bord" was pronounced to almost sound like "bal" when I would have expected something like "bor" so it sounded like " shack ball" and so at first I thought it was some kind of hybrid sport.
Maritime dialects of French have actually been a huge influence on how the language and its dialects & creoles have developed since the 17th century. Many of the same words and pronunciations seen in Creole are also seen in Canadian and Cajun french for this reason.
Maritime dialects of French have actually been a huge influence on how the language and its dialects & creoles have developed since the 17th century. Many of the same words and pronunciations seen in Creole are also seen in Canadian and Cajun french for this reason.
There are still some Acadians in the Maritimes who say ''amarrer les lacets'' for tying shoelaces, instead of ''attacher les lacets''. Amarrer is a verb that means mooring a ship with cables.
There are still some Acadians in the Maritimes who say ''amarrer les lacets'' for tying shoelaces, instead of ''attacher les lacets''. Amarrer is a verb that means mooring a ship with cables.
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. Swearing in France around and between people of our generation (40yr olds) is normally very relaxed and not taken offensively. Whilst it's not a public thing when out and about, when sat amongst a group of people your comfortable with it's certainly not uncommon.
