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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

Word of the day: Footix

When discussing football with friends or colleagues, you’ll want to avoid being accused of this ultimate sin.

Published: 21 June 2021 14:51 CEST
Word of the day: Footix

Why do I need to know Footix?

Because if France does well at Euro 2020, it could make a comeback.

What does it mean?

It broadly refers to football supporters who aren’t seen as being sufficiently “legitimate” by other fans. For example, somebody who expresses a strong opinion about a player based on a single game.

World Cup 98 mascot Footix Photo by Eric CABANIS / AFP

Footix was the name of the cartoon rooster chosen as the mascot for the 1998 World Cup in France. While the sport didn’t have the greatest reputation in France at the time, when the host country won the competition, lots of French people jumped on the bandwagon and began supporting the team. Those who had been following Les Bleus since the beginning began using the name as an insult towards these new fans.

Today, the term has taken on a broader meaning. It can still be used when there’s an international tournament, and suddenly people who don’t usually follow football are discussing the matches.

But it can also apply to club football. Much like “glory hunter” or “plastic fan”, Footix now refers to somebody who supports the most successful team of the day, only to dump them for a different club at the first sign of trouble.

L’Equipe has even published a guide for how to spot a Footix. According to the newspaper, a Footix will “come to the stadium wearing another team’s shirt”, “comes to watch videos on their phone”, and “comes to the stadium but doesn’t sing”.

Use it like this

Il faut que je me renseigne, je ne veux pas passer pour un Footix – I need to do some research, I don’t want to be taken for an armchair supporter.

C’est un Footix, il a un nouveau club toutes les semaines – He’s a fair-weather fan, he has a new club every week.

Ne l’écoute pas, c’est un Footix – Don’t listen to him, he’s not a real football fan.

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For members

FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French word of the Day: Jours ouvrés

You'll need to check the calendar carefully when you see this.

Published: 17 May 2024 12:36 CEST
French word of the Day: Jours ouvrés

Why do I need to know jours ouvrés?

Because you need an accurate time estimate.

What does it mean?

As most French learners will know, jours means days, while in this context ouvrés means ‘working’. Therefore jours ouvrés – roughly pronounced jzoor-ouv-ray – means ‘working days’. You may also see jours ouvrables, which means the same thing.

You’re most likely to come across this in the context of estimates on how long things will take – for example a delivery or the processing of an official task or perhaps the results for a test or exam.

And this is where the calendar comes in – ‘working days’ doesn’t include the weekends, but also excluded are public holidays, of which France has quite a lot. So an estimate for livraison dans les cinq jours ouvrés – might actually take almost two weeks to reach you, if there are weekend days and public holidays in between.

Days on either side of public holidays (known as ‘pont‘ days) are technically working days, but don’t be too surprised if things don’t happen on these days either. 

Although ouvrés looks similar to ouvrir (to open) the root of the work is actually ouvrer – an archaic verb meaning to work or to labour.

This word was gradually supplanted by travailler in around the 16th century, but some derivatives of it are still used – most commonly ouvrier (or ouvrière for women) which means a worker – it can be used for all types of salaried workers, but is more commonly used for people who do manual labour or work with their hands. 

It’s often used in a political sense too – one of France’s leftist political parties is Lutte ouvrière, which translates as Worker’s struggle. 

Use it like this

La livraison est estimée à trois jours ouvrés – Delivery is estimated within three working days

Les résultats seront communiqués sous 48 hours (jours ouvrés) – the results will be sent within 48 hours (on working days)

Not to be confused with 

If you want to talk about ‘open days’ – days when institutions including schools, the military or artists workshops open up to the public – in France these are known as portes ouvertes (literally ‘open doors’).

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