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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French word of the day: Chauve-souris

It's got nothing to do with baldness.

French word of the day: Chauve-souris
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Why do I need to know chauve-souris?

They're scary, or cute, depending on your point of view. Find them in Transylvanian castles, Gotham City or, more likely, on an evening stroll through the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in Paris. There's 34 species of them in France…

What does it mean?

You've probably guessed it, chauve-souris means 'bat'.

When you break it down though, what you're saying literally means bald (chauve) mouse (souris).

Bald mice might sound like an odd name for bats, but there may be a reason behind it. The theory goes that bats were originally referred to in Latin as 'owl mice', which makes more sense given their nocturnal lifestyle. However at some point the Latin word for owl (cavannus) got mixed up with the world for bald (calvus) and that distortion made its way into the French we speak today.

Synonyms

The fancy, technical name for chauve-souris is chiroptera, but that's used mainly in a scientific context.

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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French Word of the Day: Flipper

This French word does not have anything to do with marine mammals.

French Word of the Day: Flipper

Why do I need to know flipper?

Because this anglicism is used a bit differently in French than it would be in English.

What does it mean?

Flipper – roughly pronounced flea-pay – is a colloquial French term and these days it means to be upset or overly anxious. People often use it similarly to the English expression ‘to freak out’.

As you may have expected, the term is an anglicism, and it comes from the English word ‘to flip’. 

However, in French it does not mean to literally flip something over – you would use renverser for that. It comes from a different usage of the word ‘flip’, more in line with ‘losing one’s head’.

The word started being popular in France in the 1970s, and at that time it was almost exclusively used to describe the experience of ‘freaking out’ or having a bad trip after taking LSD or other hallucinogenic drugs, according to Le Figaro.

Over time, it started to refer to the period of depression many people experience after feelings of euphoria when high, as well as the anxiety that one might feel due to withdrawal. 

Nowadays, people mainly use it to refer to any irrational response. You can also call something flippant (shocking).

A more formal synonym for flipper might be paniquer.

And if you find yourself in an arcade, you may hear the word a few times, as flipper is also the French term for a pinball machine.

Use it like this

Arrête de flipper, on va être à l’heure.  – Stop freaking out, we’re going to be on time.

Les résultats des élections m’ont vraiment fait flipper. Mes amis n’ont pas été surpris pour autant. – The results of the election really freaked me out. My friends weren’t surprised though.

J’ai flippé en regardant le film d’horreur. – I freaked out when I was watching the horror movie.

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