# Il m'a dit un truc



## Tabac

On a recent trip to France, I heard a frustrated tour guide say, "Il m'a dit un truc".  In this case, does "truc" mean bad or incorrect information?


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## Amyyy

I think truc is not bad or incorrect it is just truc..
like "he told me something" but in a familiar way but not bad


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## SunnyS

Are children in France taught not to use the word "truc" - like it's not correct French? (not that anyone thinks it's a swearword)

Would a school teacher say "truc" in a classroom?

What would be the most common correct French word to replace "truc"? I imagine it is  "chose" ?


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## totentanz

If I understand correctly, "truc" is sort of the French equivalent of "thing" or "stuff". It's not incorrect but it's informal and if you want to write well you want to use a better and more specific word.


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## LMorland

totentanz said:


> If I understand correctly, "truc" is sort of the French equivalent of "thing" or "stuff". It's not incorrect but it's informal and if you want to write well you want to use a better and more specific word.


Welcome to the Forum, totentanz! 

Yes, having lived here for over 10 years, I concur with your statement.  It should be emphasized that _truc _can certainly be used in polite company.  A friend of mine, an elegant lady who belongs to the Association for the Defense of the French Language, once said to me, _Ce n'est pas mon truc._ ("It's not my thing.")

To further tease out the meaning:  to me, _un truc_ often means _a_ _thing_ in a general, non-concrete sense.  ("He told the tour guide some _thing.") _Whereas _une chose_ usually refers to a real, three-dimensional thing that you can touch.

It's not a hard-and-fast rule, and I'd like a native speaker to verify, but that's my understanding.


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## amg8989

*truc* is casual and more of a blanket term that can apply to something *concrete* or something *abstract* like an idea.

it's handy when your French is limited and you're pointing to something that you don't know the word for, so you use *truc*. 

concrete:
_C'est quoi, ce truc que tu apportes?
Je sais pas quel truc qu'il voulait
Tu prends ce truc-ci, ou ce truc-là?_

abstract:
_J'ai pensé à un truc
Il a trouvé le truc pour le faire
C'est mon nouveau truc
_


* *BIDULE* is another French word that can be used when referring to something that you don't know (*aka*- a thingamajig/thingamabob/what-you-call-it)


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## SunnyS

Thank you for your explanations. I said "truc" in a sentence to a group of 11 yr olds and they thought it was very funny. One girl even  exclaimed to another: "she said 'truc'!" Maybe it's just because I didn't say "chose," going  into a very informal register then.


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## LMorland

amg8989 said:


> *truc* is casual and more of a blanket term that can apply to something *concrete* or something *abstract* like an idea


Yes, you're totally right, of course, and I've often used _truc _to refer to a physical object whose name I don't know (particularly when dealing with renovations!).

Yet I still feel that _chose_ is more concrete than _truc.  _Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's my strong impression.


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## LMorland

SunnyS said:


> One girl even  exclaimed to another: "she said 'truc'!"


That's interesting: I didn't realize that saying _truc _would cause 11-year-old girls to giggle.  So I just looked up the word in the TLFi, and _truc _has a shady past.  As recently as 1934 it meant _prostitution._


> _Argot, vieilli_.  Prostitution. [...]  _Pensez-vous! Dès que je  serai guérie, je recommencerai le truc. Les hommes c'est si cochon. Une femme  avec une jambe de bois, vous ne savez pas ce qu'ils paieront pour s'offrir c't'  oiseau rare_ (DANIEL-ROPS,  _Mort_, 1934, p. 268).


Here's another, still apparently current, meaning:





> Moyen caché, dispositif, manipulation discrète qui permet de réussir un tour  d'adresse, de créer une illusion. Synonym _secret_.  _Tour de cartes dont personne n'a deviné le truc; trucs d'un  illusionniste_.


http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/tlfiv5/visusel.exe?11;s=317538750;r=1;nat=;sol=0;


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## SunnyS

LMorland said:


> That's interesting: I didn't realize that saying _truc _would cause 11-year-old girls to giggle.  So I just looked up the word in the TLFi, and _truc _has a shady past.  As recently as 1934 it meant _prostitution._



I'd be very surprised if anything like that (prostitution!) was going through their minds, not even remotely! I think they were just giggling because it was not correct French. They know it's slang or very informal, so an adult "should have known" how to speak more properly their language, like their parents do.


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## Lotache

Wooow, i didn't know about the prostitution thing  !
About "truc" it's the kind of word grand-mas and teachers don't like:

"Tu peux me passer le truc s'il te plait?
- Ce n'est pas un "truc", c'est un dessous de plat"

That's probably why the girl giggled, she is probably from a "well-educated" family and not used to hearing adults using "truc".


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## LMorland

SunnyS said:


> I'd be very surprised if anything like that (prostitution!) was going through their minds, not even remotely!


Of course not! 

However if a word has "shady past", that past clings to that word, like a shadow, even if most people (grown-ups included) have no inkling of the details.  This is true in any language.

Lotache notes that "it's the kind of word grandmas and teachers don't like", and of course that's why the girls giggled.  

But _why don't_ the teachers and grandmas like the word?  Yes, it's imprecise.  (Lotache again:_ Ce n'est pas un "truc", c'est un "dessous de plat."_)

But as it turns out, _truc _is also shady! 

(And it's not just prostitution, by the way.  Another big element of truc is that it comes from the world of theater. And theater used to be considered unseemly.  That's why "in 1642, under the  force of the Puritans, the English Parliament issued an ordinance  suppressing all stage plays in the theatres.")


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## SunnyS

LMorland said:


> Of course not!
> 
> However if a word has "shady past", that past clings to that word, like a shadow, even if most people (grown-ups included) have no inkling of the details.  This is true in any language.
> 
> Lotache notes that "it's the kind of word grandmas and teachers don't like", and of course that's why the girls giggled.
> 
> But _why don't_ the teachers and grandmas like the word?  Yes, it's imprecise.  (Lotache again:_ Ce n'est pas un "truc", c'est un "dessous de plat."_)
> 
> But as it turns out, _truc _is also shady!



I think you are wrong there. As far as I know, there is nothing shady clinging to _truc_ at present, it's just slang/too informal, so not a "proper adult" way to talk.  

Even if _truc _had none of this past history you posted, but was still slang, the girls would have still giggled.

The word "trick" in English, which can be used in a prostitution context, or in a magic card context, does not make anyone giggle if you use it in other contexts. There is nothing particular shady about _trick_, just as there is nothing shady clinging to _truc_.  (Unless you are obsessed about prostitution, of course!)


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## itka

"truc" is not incorrect nor slang (have a look here). You can use it as often as you wish when you don't know the proper word.
I assume the group of 11 yr olds laughed because you pronounced it with a british/american accent and said "trouc"...


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## Lotache

Mh yes but "fam." still means familier.


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## Nicomon

Several hours later...

I agree entirely with itka (bonjour ), and the idea of mispronunciation has also crossed my mind.

I, for one, had never ever heard of the so called "shady past" of such an innoncent word as «_ truc_ ». 



> But why don't the teachers and grandmas like the word? Yes, it's imprecise.


 Exactly, because it's imprecise...not because of the word itself. They'd probably react the same way to the word _chose_. 
_Cette « chose » a un nom : c'est un sous-plat. _

_Familier_ simply means colloquial/conversational not incorrect or slang. 





> Se dit d’un mot ou d’une construction qui s’emploie couramment à l’oral, *et même à l’écrit,* mais qu’on évite dans certains contextes de communication où toute familiarité serait incongrue. *L’abréviation resto **est de niveau familier*.


Name me one person who would be offended hearing or reading _resto_. _Truc_ is the same register, in my opinion.


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## Lotache

I agree, it's not offending or anything, but in my opinion, it's colloquial enough to make a child laugh when it comes from an "real adult".

Of course, I could have something to do with the accent, did you say "twouk" SunnyS?...


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## SunnyS

Lotache said:


> I agree, it's not offending or anything, but in my opinion, it's colloquial enough to make a child laugh when it comes from an "real adult".
> 
> Of course, I could have something to do with the accent, did you say "twouk" SunnyS?...



Apparently you weren't able to follow my replies above...


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Salut,



SunnyS said:


> Thank you for your explanations. I said "truc" in a sentence to a group of 11 yr olds and they thought it was very funny. One girl even  exclaimed to another: "she said 'truc'!" Maybe it's just because I didn't say "chose," going  into a very informal register then.


Et si tu nous livrais cette phrase dans laquelle tu as employé le mot truc ? 
(le contexte, le contexte !)


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## SunnyS

KaRiNe_Fr said:


> Salut,
> 
> 
> Et si tu nous livrais cette phrase dans laquelle tu as employé le mot truc ?
> (le contexte, le contexte !)



And in what way would that improve your reading ability of what I have already replied above?


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## Lotache

SunnyS said:


> Apparently you weren't able to follow my replies above...


Sorry, I was just trying to help. (Enfin, je ne vois toujours pas où tu as précisé que tu n'avais pas d'accent mais bon, je suis bien loin de parler anglais apparemment )

Sinon, comme Karine_Fr, je pense que le contexte ne serait pas une si mauvaise idée, par exemple qui tu es par rapport à ces enfants, de quoi vous parliez et la phrase. A ta guise.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

SunnyS said:


> And in what way would that improve your reading ability of what I have already replied above?


Une supposition, sans doute incongrue... Tu aurais pu employer le mot truc dans une phrase où on n'a pas l'habitude de le voir, voire où il serait employé mal (t !) à propos. 
Si ta phrase est top secrète, pas de problème, prends-en une autre et forme-la sur le même modèle. Ou pas. C'est toi qui vois...


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## Pedro y La Torre

SunnyS said:


> )Would a school teacher say "truc" in a classroom?



Certainly, I hear it used virtually every day, though most of my teachers are economics and business professors so perhaps they don't aim for the linguistic heights of the literary crowd.


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## elfengor

School teachers learnt us we musn't use this word ("truc") anymore when we came in the secondary school. 

This is a typical word used by the very young children  

It's good to know it because it proves you know some typical french words but I would't advise you to use it in a serious question/answer.


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## SunnyS

elfengor said:


> School teachers learnt us we musn't use this word ("truc") anymore when we came in the secondary school.
> 
> This is a typical word used by the very young children




Another reason why 11-yr olds would find it funny to hear it from an adult, especially a foreigner! 

I actually like "truc" very much, and I used to say it all the time. But then I did notice that French adults hardly ever said it, so I have now conformed to more adult-speak and kind of eliminated "truc."


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Truc est parfaitement utilisé par des adultes, particulièrement quand ils deviennent séniles et ne trouvent plus leurs mots ! 
(je n'ai donc pas le même ressenti qu'elfengor)


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## elfengor

SunnyS said:


> *Another reason why 11-yr olds would find it funny to hear it from an adult, especially a foreigner!
> *
> I actually like "truc" very much, and I used to say it all the time. But then I did notice that French adults hardly ever said it, so I have now conformed to more adult-speak and kind of eliminated "truc."




Yeah !! You're right ^^ 
But mind this is supposed to be funny or used in a funny sentence/situation. 
In a serious situation, be careful 

Karine @ Oui, c'est vrai. Lorsque tu cherches un mot, tu peux être amené à utiliser truc. Ce mot t'énerve à tel point que ça peut même devenir amusant. Et il n'est pas rare qu'on utilise "truc". 
Mais encore une fois, voilà, dans un contexte sérieux, il vaudrait mieux le dire uniquement dans sa tête ^^


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## SunnyS

Pedro y La Torre said:


> Certainly, I hear it used virtually every day, though most of my teachers are economics and business professors so perhaps they don't aim for the linguistic heights of the literary crowd.



And 23 yr olds are more tolerant that 11 yr olds in that regard!


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## SunnyS

KaRiNe_Fr said:


> Une supposition, sans doute incongrue... Tu aurais pu employer le mot truc dans une phrase où on n'a pas l'habitude de le voir, voire où il serait employé mal (t !) à propos.



But I didn't. So nothing incongruous about my remark at all.


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