# Ça pue le fric



## charlie2

Hi,
I am looking for an expression which sounds like the captioned. It is used when, say, you go to somebody's house and find that there are everything extravagant, chandeliers, marbles, etc. It is probably not good taste but it is money.
What is that expression?
Thank you.


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## superromu

i would say : ça pue le fric


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## sophievm

"ça pue le fric" is definitely the one!


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## sophievm

btw, is there in English any derogatory word for "money" (like French "fric")?


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## charlie2

superromu said:
			
		

> i would say : ça pue le fric


Yes, something sounds like le fric is coming back to my exhausted mind now.
And _puer_ is the verb here?


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## sophievm

Yes Charlie, "puer" is slang for "sentir mauvais" (= "to stink" or in some cases "to suck").


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## charlie2

Incidentally can _Ça pue_ stand alone to mean : _It stinks_? (I am making things up.  )


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## DDT

sophievm said:
			
		

> btw, is there in English any derogatory word for "money" (like French "fric")?



I can only think of "dirty money"   

DDT


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## MarlaLP

sophievm said:
			
		

> btw, is there in English any derogatory word for "money" (like French "fric")?


 
"Pelf" is derogatory for money/wealth, though it is rarely used.


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## Podd

charlie2 said:
			
		

> Hi,
> It is probably not good taste but it is money.
> QUOTE]
> 
> In Canada one would say...c'est Kétaine...meaning items of bad taste, with no distinction of the amount of money. But it's just an expression and not in any French dictionary.


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## charlie2

Podd said:
			
		

> charlie2 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi,
> It is probably not good taste but it is money.
> QUOTE]
> 
> In Canada one would say...c'est Kétaine...meaning items of bad taste, with no distinction of the amount of money. But it's just an expression and not in any French dictionary.
> 
> 
> 
> Kétaine? What is it?
Click to expand...


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## timpeac

sophievm said:
			
		

> btw, is there in English any derogatory word for "money" (like French "fric")?


 
Is "fric" derogatory then? I thought it was just colloquial?


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## Podd

This expression is very local, and I guess if you use it outside Canada no one is going to understand. 
The origin, I think could come from the 70's when a company call Ketel was advertising so much crap on TV, items often more or less expensive that did not have great purpose. The word was modified to ketaine that express something or someone of bad taste.


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## semiller

Though not derogatory, one can refer to money as "dough" in English. It's very colloquial.


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## timpeac

semiller said:
			
		

> Though not derogatory, one can refer to money as "dough" in English. It's very colloquial.


 
Yes, or "bread", at least in the UK. It's hard to imagine a derogatory term for money! I mean I know it's the root of all evil and all that, but come on we all want it...


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## fetchezlavache

no, fric is not derogatory per se.

however, in 'ça pue le fric', the derogatory part that lies in 'puer' seeps through and reaches 'fric'.. ((sorry for the imagery, i don't know how to say 'déteint sur le mot fric'))

if you say 'ça pue l'argent' for instance, instead, there is not as much scorn/spite/contempt in your view.. but it's a bit of a nuance..


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## Kelly B

That's a good one, though "it stinks of dough" sounds more like a bakery than Donald Trump's penthouse suite....

Here in the land of the capitalist pig, could there possibly be such a thing as a derogatory term for cold, hard, cash?


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## charlie2

I know it is against the etiquette to ask a question twice but I am really worried that my little question in post #7 might get lost. Would somebody help it, please?


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## timpeac

charlie2 said:
			
		

> Incidentally can _Ça pue_ stand alone to mean : _It stinks_? (I am making things up.  )


 
Yes, it's fine like that.


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## charlie2

timpeac said:
			
		

> Yes, it's fine like that.


Thank you. The little question says thank you too.


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## cubaMania

We do have a derogatory term for money:  *lucre*
It sounds a little old-fashioned, or even humorous but is still in use.  More often than not it is modifed by the adjective filthy, i.e. *filthy lucre*

I am not aware of a set phrase in English equivalent to *ça pu d'argent*, but I think if you were to say *the place stinks of money* you'd communicate a similar idea.  I do not think we could say *the place stinks of lucre*--that might have a different connotation.  *Lucre* is somewhat associated with ill-gotten profit or gain, so I'd go with *the place stinks of money* for your equivalent.

Sorry that my French is as yet too rudimentary to compose answers.  (Unless, of course, you were to ask me where my aunt's pen is.)


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## timpeac

cubaMania said:
			
		

> (Unless, of course, you were to ask me where my aunt's pen is.)


 
It's in the office of my uncle, isn't it?


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## Cath.S.

timpeac said:
			
		

> It's in the office of my uncle, isn't it?


 
_*Sur* le bureau_, Tim, not _*dans* le bureau_.


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## timpeac

egueule said:
			
		

> _*Sur* le bureau_, Tim, not _*dans* le bureau_.


 
..................bof!


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## Gil

timpeac said:
			
		

> ..................bof!



If you're still looking, it's on the *desk*...


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## roger077

cubaMania said:
			
		

> I am not aware of a set phrase in English equivalent to *ça pu d'argent*, but I think if you were to say *the place stinks of money* you'd communicate a similar idea.


I think *reeks of money* is seen/heard a bit more often than *stinks of money*.


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## cubaMania

Yes, I agree, *reeks* sounds natural here.


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## seann7000

hmmmm... If "puer" is "to stink", then is that where we get the expression "P.U.!" (it stinks) in english?


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## seann7000

cubaMania said:
			
		

> We do have a derogatory term for money:  *lucre*



I presume that is the origin of the more commonly used *Lucrative*, meaning profitable. However, I don't think of lucrative as being derogative.


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## Ardnaxela

We only use the expression 'dirty money' to describe money that had been acquired through immoral or illegal means.


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## cubaMania

Well thanks for helping me search. I found my aunt's pen (sur la table) so no need to keep looking for it.

sean7000, as to the origin of *pu* here's one view of it:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970416



> When something smells really bad, we often use the term "P.U" to show how unpleasent a smell is to us....Since about 1600, there have been a number of interjections indicating (variously) disgust, relief, exhaustion, surprise, and the like, all representing something like the whistling sound you get by blowing a puff of air out of closed lips


 .

EDIT: and for usage--each year there are issued the P.U.-litzer prizes for really stinky journalism. A web search will turn them up.
And there's our favorite cartoon skunk, Pepe le Pew.  We spell pu many ways.


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## charlie2

On the desk, in the bureau and quel tiroir, shame on you people to have had such fun without me.   I started the thread, remember?
Anyway, thank you everyone. I have learned a lot from you, as always.


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## cubaMania

seann7000 said:
			
		

> I presume that is the origin of the more commonly used *Lucrative*, meaning profitable. However, I don't think of lucrative as being derogative.


Yes, seann7000 I agree that the related adjective *lucrative* does not have a negative connotation.  (And there is a French word *lucre*, as well.)
I suspect that English *lucre* has that negative ill-gotten connotation because it has been married for as along as any of us can remember to *filthy*.  Lucre is monogamous and is hardly ever seen out and about with anyone other than *filthy*.  (*Filthy*, on the other hand, has been known to step out with quite a few other words...well, some marriages are like that.)


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## roger077

cubaMania said:
			
		

> I suspect that English *lucre* has that negative ill-gotten connotation because it has been married for as along as any of us can remember to *filthy*.


The phrase *filthy lucre* comes from, of all places, the Bible (1 Timothy 3).
It was coined by William Tyndale for his pioneering translation into vernacular
English in 1525. For some wry commentary on how *lucre* acquired its pejorative
gloss, see http://www.bartleby.com/61/8/L0280800.html

Although *lucre* and *lucrative* both stem from the same Latin roots,
*lucrative* apparently arrived by way of Old French, whereas *lucre* came
directly from the Latin.

(Is this posting appropriate here? It's about English, not French, but this
is where the discussion of lucre came up.)


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## cubaMania

Innteresting, informative link roger077, thanks.


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