Favorite French words.

I have spent some quality time as I parooze the selection of cafés, ice cream stores, and crêpe stands, thinking about my favorite words in the beautiful language I have studied for over 10 years. Here's where my list stands right now, by awesomeness.

10) "PVF." See earlier blog entry describing the idea behind our devise for the French, "pain, vin, fromage."
9) "Ciao!" This is so much better of a goodbye salutation than "au revoir" when talking with a friend, so Euro!
8) "Un truc." This word can mean a lot of things and sounds pretty; every member of my host family uses it to describe all sorts of things. One direct translation of it is "a trick," so it's a sort of slang expression for "thing." Fun.
7) "Un croque monsieur." You know what I'm talking about, the delicious, warm ham-and-cheese sandwich that I love. I'm thinking I may get another in the next several days, it's been a while.
6) "Pourquoi pas?" Literally translates to "why not?" Hilary Duff sang about it back in her "Lizzie McGuire" years, but that being said, it's a good thought to keep in mind when trying to make the most of your experience abroad.
5) "Puisse." I am a grammar nerd, and "puisse" is the subjunctive, third person singular conjucation of the verb "pouvoir" or "can" in English. It's used after certain expressions, which I make sure to use a lot because I love the sound of this word!
4) "Ça marche!" Basically my response to anything as a way of saying, "that's cool/that works for me/sounds great!" Being the easy-going person that I am, this expression works well as a filler for someone needing to expand her conversational vocabulary.
3) "Pardon." Simple, easy to say, can be used to excuse just about any simple mishap a typical American fumbles, and, for me, it's easy since I use "pardon" as my word instead of saying "what" like a typical American. Over here, all I had to do was change the accent!
2) "Cou cou." This is a greeting that people use to say hello to someone familiar, like the bird sound, it's pretty amusing.
1) "ohh la la." Big shoutout to Alix, one of my host sisters, on that one. She makes the expression sound so cute, and it's a great response to anything saucy.

Coming soon: food photos, balloon pants, and ... Simon Baker?

À tout! (another favorite expression of mine, currently climbing the charts...)

XOXO, c