As all French people know, all ideas can be expressed with
- nuls,
- truc,
- mon oeil et
- vachement bovin.
It has begun.
The French lexicon is about to change.
Vachement bovin
Vachement bovin.
(to both parts)
I hope that people are beginning to see the tremendous utility in creatively extending languages which quite frankly are a little shabby.
-*-
Hmmmm “meugler” … … so … …
Meugler l’eau de toilette,
c’est un cauchemar vachement bovin!
Can any of you French speaking people tell me whether I’ve done justice to the ad?
I am assuming this is a witty joke but I don’t get it.
Ditto
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I believe that this has changed somewhat, in that ma’mselle should now be used only to very young people, pre-teens in fact and not to unmarried women generally.
@Vero will put me right if I am wrong. 
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Exactly so @David_Spardo ! Or oldies among themselves to be funny. Otherwise really best avoided.
Thanks for that I thought I had it right except for the funny oldies, I can quite see that happening within my own age group without causing offence. 
Is the teenage plus part of it to do with the apparent assumption that all women over a certain age should be married, or what kind of person are they ( 
) and in a way linked with the word ‘madam’ in English which can cause offence regarding a hint towards the managers of certain, erm, ‘establishments’ ?
Again @Vero will confirm or deny, but I think it’s more about showing respect i.e. treating them as a grown-up rather than a child…
My husband’s favourite is “Je parle francais comme une vache espagnole”
Probably << ça ne marche pas parce qu’il y a … >>
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Yes - and as an autonomous person in their own right.
funnily enough, when I used that phrase recently, my French pals explained (amidst their chuckles) that the phrase used to be “… comme une vache basque”
no idea if this is a regional variation
I find this very useful and use it often. However, be careful using it in a restaurant (as I did one time) — if the waitress is Spanish
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No one quite knows the origin of the phrase, but it is quite possibly racist. So I wouldn’t use it anywhere. Why not just say je parle tres mal le français?
My favourite technique to gain sympathy for my inadequate French is to explain that I have three serious problems
I am old so struggle to learn
I am deaf so do not hear well
…… and I am English (followed by Gallic shrug).
It works well nearly every time.
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Absolutely, always keep the ‘old’ card and the ‘deaf’ card handy.
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There’s an even better card that trumps all others - old, deaf AND a woman!
Not sure that one works Sue - people seem to expect women to speak French better than the men, at least around here!
I must admit though that I do use a combination of age, deafness and French not being my “langue maternelle”
It’s a low bar! 
I don’t know if they speak better, but, on the whole, they speak more willingly - I think women tend to be more prepared to make mistakes for the sake of at least some form of communication. (I realise there are exceptions.)
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Having purchased the small house next to ours, well 4 walls. and a roof. Why?
Currently my most used expressions are: ‘C’est foutu’ and ‘on ne voit jamais de coffre-fort sur un corbillard funéraire’.
I get told “vous parlez français comme un belge”
Anyone who has seen the Dany Boon film ‘Rien à déclarer’ will know it is an insult.