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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French Word of the Day: Tanguy

An increasing number of young adults are members of the 'Tanguy' generation.

French Word of the Day: Tanguy
French Word of the Day: Tanguy (Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash)

Why do I need to know Tanguy?

It’s a pop-culture reference to grown-up children who still live in the family home.

What does it mean?

Tanguy – pronounced ton-gee – is, in reality, a boy’s name. But, following the success of the 2001 film Tanguy, it has been co-opted to describe grown-up children who are slow to leave the family home, and the growing frustration of their parents.

In the film, the eponymous well-educated and working 28-year-old insists on staying in the family home, despite having the financial wherewithal to move out, to the dismay and increasing annoyance of his parents – with his mother desperately hiding murderous thoughts towards her child.

The film gave rise to the term phénomène Tanguy (Tanguy phenomenon), and to an expression to describe the age group of these young people: la génération Tanguy (Tanguy generation).

In 2019, a sequel, Tanguy, Le Retour, revisited the family home – as the title character returns home 16 years later with his daughter, after his wife leaves him.

Use it like this

Mon fils est un Tanguy: il a 28 ans ans, est célibataire et vit toujours chez moi –  My son is a Tanguy: he is 28, single and still lives at my house.

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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French Word of the Day: OKLM

This abbreviation might come up when chatting with a young French person.

French Word of the Day: OKLM

Why do I need to know OKLM?

Because you might have assumed this was just a typo.

What does it mean?

OKLM – is an abbreviation for the phrase ‘au calme’ and pronounced the same, so roughly “oh kalmm”.

Most of the time, the word calme refers to peace and tranquillity. After political tension or protests, you might hear a politician appel au calme (call for peace).

A person could also use it literally to say that they want to be in a quiet environment (ex. Je veux lire mon livre au calme, I want to read my book in peace and quiet).

However, in colloquial language, you might use it to describe a nonchalant activity. You can use it to refer to something as ‘no big deal’ or as a way to describe your own relaxed mood. 

A synonym might be tranquille.

As for the abbreviation OKLM, this came into popularity in 2012 and grew to greater heights in 2014 thanks to the French rapper Booba’s hit song titled OKLM.

After Booba’s song, the expression was very popular and it has fallen off a bit these days, but the abbreviation is still regularly used among young people when texting or chatting via social media. 

Use it like this

Non, je ne vais pas réviser, je vais juste passer l’examen OKLM.  – Nah, I’m not going to study, I’ll just take the test as is. No big deal.

Il n’y avait pas trop de bouchons. Nous sommes rentrés à la maison en moins d’une heure, OKLM. – Traffic wasn’t too bad. We made it home in under an hour, no biggie.

Je comprends que tu sois stressé, mais moi ? Je suis OKLM. – I get that you’re stressed, but me? I’m chilling.

On se retrouve à la gare à 10h? / OKLM – We’ll meet at the station at 10am? / Yep. All good.

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