What Does Un Gros Mot Mean?
It's Not Just Large nor Long
Un gros mot?
This morning I saw a post from writer Gilles Pudlowski on his Instagram of a tourist shop in Kaysersberg in Alsace selling tchotchkes, souvenirs, and fun items. One of the images was of a can with a character saying, "Tu dis un gros mot tu mets 1 euro." It's the second slide in his carousel of images.
His post mentioned humor and authenticity. I looked at the phrase and at first thought, "You say a big word you give one euro."
Was this as a way for salt-of-the-earth types to tell their city counterparts to simmer down with their fancy vocabulary? I thought it might be regional humor doling out a friendly elbow.
Well, it's not. Our Alsatian friends use big words like everyone else. It turns out un gros mot is a swear word or curse word. That funny can is simply our childhood tax collector for bad manners. Connexion France has a nice article about the nuances of the word and vulgarity in a French context.
The phrase is used in warning children that something is a swear word or a bad word. They would have to pay their fair tax on its use until they're old enough to wield its highly colorful use in everyday life.
"Attention, c'est un gros mot !" ("Careful, that's a swear word!")
A wise quote from the article comes from French poet Eduard Pailleron:
Le langage de l'amour : les grands mots avant, les petits mots pendant, les gros mots après.
The original Instagram post
The language of love: grand words before, soft words during, swear words come after.
Ah, the language of love, you're gonna need a bigger can in that case.
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