Vachement French Slang

Vachement, pronounced  vahsh ma(n),  is not about cows, even though the root is vache, French for cow among other things. Its an adverb in colloquial French for very, really, bloody  and its been extremely common since the late 1940s or so. Its also a pronoun in vachement de, meaning a lot of. This catch-all term is used by just about everyone in France at one time or another, and by some, several times a day in expressions like  Cest vachement difficile! (Its really hard!) and  Cest vachement sympa. (Thats so cool/nice!) The Intensifier What it seems to be more than anything is a term that conveys a feeling of the superlative rather than any specific meaning, an intensifier that  amplifies in a general but extreme way the adjective or adverb  it modifies. Vachement is so popular that it has an entourage of  derivatives that are also pretty intense: The noun  une vacherie signifies rottenness, meanness, a dirty trick, or a nasty remark; the adjective vache  means rotten or nasty; and the charming  little expression parler  comme une vache espagnole  disparages ones foreign language skills by comparing them to a Spanish cow. Poor Spanish cows.   Why Cows? Naturally, we wondered, whats the deal with all the cow expressions? Vachement seems to have inspired a whole, albeit tiny branch of the French language. Lisa Anselmo writing on WWW.com, a solid site for word nerds, has a theory based on her research: Around 1880, the word  vache—cow—became slang for â€Å"evil† or â€Å"severe.† It seems that French cows are crankier than their U.S. cousins, perhaps from being over-milked for all that cheese. By the turn of the century,  vache  had developed into a derogatory term for a wicked or vengeful person: â€Å"You cow, you†Ã¢â‚¬â€similar in vehemence but not quite the same as the British expression (which is reserved for women). Then, in about 1930, the cows got a reprieve, and  vachement  evolved into the kinder, quantitative meaning: â€Å"a lot; so very.† Vaches Actus didn’t say how this evolution came to be, but I’m guessing it was during the Roaring Twenties, perhaps at the legendary brasserie La Coupole on Boulevard Montparnasse (it’s still there!), when, after much champagne, someone—Sartre or Man Ray or Simone de Beauvoir?—uttered something like, â€Å"Gawd, that is wickedly mahvelous!†   Et voilà  , â€Å"wicked† came to mean â€Å"very.† This is not an official explanation, you understand, but it’s  vachement plus exacte  than the one my French friend offered. Could be. For now, lets take a look at some sentences using vachement and its derivatives. Expressions With Vachement and Its Derivatives On sest vachement trompà ©. We made one hell of a mistake.Elle est vachement belle, ta robe.   Thats a really beautiful dress youre wearing.  Ãƒâ€¡a fait une sacrà ©e diffà ©rence!   That makes a big difference !Oui, vachement!   You can say that again!Je tassure quil taime. But Im telling you he loves you.Oui, vachement!  (ironic)   Like hell he does! (very familiar)Jai  vachement  aimà © ta pià ¨ce.   l  really  liked your play.Il est vachement bien, ce bouquin. This book is really great.Il est vachement grand ton appartement ? Is your apartment really big?Viens te baigner, l’eau est vachement chaude. Come on in. The water’s really warm.Je suis vachement occupà ©e cette semaine. I’m really busy this week.Ils ont l’air vachement dangereux. They seem / sound pretty dangerous.Ca m’aiderai vachement si tu portais mes valises. It would really help if you carried my bags.Un million, à §a fait vachement l’affair e. A million would really do it.faire une vacherie a quelqu’un to play a dirty / rotten trick on somebodyIl me disait des vacheries. He was saying really nasty things to me. / He was being really horrible to me.faire un coup vache a quelqu’un to play a dirty / rotten trick on someoneC’est vache de ta part. It’s rotten of you.Allez, ne sois pas vache. Come on, don’t be rotten/ Come on, be a sport. (UK)Je bosse chez moi, à §a me fait gagner vachement de temps. I work at home; that gains me a lot of time.