I was talking to someone this morning and they used two words which I heard as moufle and bougeat. I clearly go these wrong as I can’t find them in the dictionary in the sense in which they were used. She was describing a man who had no respect for women and took no account of them. I know my hearing is poor but I wondered whether anyone could guess what those words were meant to be?
only throwing ideas into the mix…
bougeard
malmener
I thought Bougeard (which it could well be) was a proper noun
The first was probably “mufle”, and the second one was almost certainly “goujat”. Somewhat aged terms, by today’s standards, for a rather uncouth man. Not sure how many Gen XYZ people would still use those terms.
Thank you VERY much @RicePudding . I’m sure you are right - that could be exactly what I heard! The person talking was elderly (by your standards anyway, I think )
Trouble is, with local patois there are bound to be words used which might mean nothing to an “outsider”… like us
shifty/vagabond/good-for-nothing is something sounding like bougeard
EDIT @AngelaR on occasions I would query a word… there would often be red faces and the person apologising for using a rude word… so now I just let things go with the flow…
Yes mufle and goujat are what I would think she said neither is obscene or shocking.
Agree. Especially if the person was perhaps not from the highest educational level. Goujat my OH recalls now has racist undertones, whereas originally was just anti-Auvergnat. Bit like what Plouc and Bretons was.
For me a Goujat is a paysanasse ou à pitzouille.
Never heard any racist connotations, but would like to know what others think especially Mr. JJ
Goujat comes from Occitan and originally just meant a valet ie a person of socially low degree, it doesn’t have racist overtones.
The term for Auvergnats was Bougnats, they were coal merchants and café people who went to Paris.
Ah ha! He said it was a vague memory, so that sounds far more likely!
The term is still used here in the Auvergne as a form of endearment and pride - quite often found in restaurant names and agricultural producers business names, even apéro drinks and dishes on menus, etc.
Bougnat that is, not goujat