# tapoche



## 94kittycat

Salut, 

I looked up this word on WordReference and didn't get anything: *tapoche*. This word was used at the very beginning of a sentence, which is: "*Tapoche* un peu... il m'a dit en tendant le long sac de cuir."

Does anyone have any idea what tapoche could mean??

Merci beaucoup!


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## Punky Zoé

I personaly don't know this verb but it seems to be a quebecian word.


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## 94kittycat

Merci, Punky Zoé, any little bit helps!


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## Nicomon

This Quebecer will confirm... "tapocher" is indeed a quebecism. 

Here's what Antidote says about it

_Trans. dir.
_¨ Donner des coups désordonnés à, sur. Un hockeyeur qui en tapoche un autre. Se faire tapocher. • _Se tapocher_ : se donner des coups de poing. Les manifestants se sont un peu tapochés.
_Intrans.
_¨ Donner des coups; jouer maladroitement. Tapocher sur qqn. Enfant qui tapoche sur un piano. 
 
Is the guy in the story a boxer, by any chance? 
 
It reminds me of this old song... Méo Penché


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## 94kittycat

No, he's not a boxer. At least I don't think so. The story we read was really weird, though...


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## 94kittycat

I figured out what "tapocher" means in FLA class today. It means, in this context, anyway: "Move over." Thanks for all your help, though!


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## Nicomon

94kittycat said:


> I figured out what "tapocher" means in FLA class today. It means, in this context, anyway: "Move over."


 
Sorry kittycat. As a born and raised Quebecer, I can assure you that "tapocher" does not mean "move over"... in any context.   

To mean "move over" we might say... "*tasse toi*".  
or if it was "move over here", then...  "*approche *un peu"


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## emma42

Alors, comment traduire "tapoche" dans ce contexte?


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## Nicomon

emma42 said:


> Alors, comment traduire "tapoche" dans ce contexte?


 
emma, the problem is that the context isn't crystal clear. 

Since kittycat now understands it as "move over" I'm guessing that he/she may have meant to write "approche", and not "tapoche", in which case it would indeed mean 
"move over" or "come closer".

I never heard (and I'm no spring chiken ) « _tapocher »_ to mean anything other than the definitions given in post 4. 

First reading the context, I imagined a story featuring a boxer and his trainer, and that the « _sac de cuir »_ referred to was a leather punching bag. 
« Tapoche » would then make sense, as it would mean something like "hit with your fists" / "give it a good punch".


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## emma42

Merci, Nicomon.  Tout le monde est confus.  "Approche" me semble une bonne supposition.


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## Cath.S.

Nicomon said:


> The problem is emma that the context isn't crystal clear.
> 
> Since kittycat now understands it as "move over" I'm guessing that he/she may have meant that to write "approche", and not "tapoche", in which case it would indeed mean "move over" or "come closer".
> 
> I never heard (and I'm no spring chiken ) « _tapocher »_ to mean anything other than the definitions given in post 4.
> 
> First reading the context, I imagined a story featuring a boxer and his trainer, and that the « _sac de cuir »_ referred to was a leather punching bag.
> « Tapoche » would then make sense, as it would mean something like "hit with your fists" / "give it a good punch".


Hi Nico, 

how about he has something special in a bag, and he's asking the other guy to feel through the leather, could the author have used _tapocher _in such a context, to mean "Feel what I've got in there"?
(Don't ask me what it might be, though. Could be anything, including a live spring chicken ).


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## Nicomon

> Hi Nico,
> 
> how about he has something special in a bag, and he's asking the other guy to feel through the leather, could the author have used _tapocher _in such a context, to mean "Feel what I've got in there"?
> (Don't ask me what it might be, though. Could be anything, including a live spring chicken ).


 
Hello  

Sorry for the late reply. I was busy trying to translate a famous King's quote. 

Very imaginative, but... don't think so. I for one would not use _tapocher_ to mean feel. _Tâter _or _tapoter_, may be. 

Antidote gives lots of synonyms for the _tapocher _word, some of which you're probably more acquainted with. 

Donner des coups sur qqch. — battre, cogner, frapper, taper (sur).

Donner des coups à qqn — battre, frapper, porter la main sur, rosser, rouer de coups.
[France] [Familier] boxer, castagner, châtaigner, esquinter le portrait à, flanquer une pile à, mettre la tête au carré à, rentrer dans le chou à, rentrer dans le lard à, rentrer dans le mou à, tatouiller, tomber sur le paletot à, tomber sur le poil à, tricoter les côtes à.


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## Yul

S'agirait-il de "taponner"? 
"Taponner", c'est toucher avec les mains. 
Yul


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## Nicomon

Yul said:


> S'agirait-il de "taponner"?
> "Taponner", c'est toucher avec les mains.
> Yul


 
Salut Yul 

J'avoue ne pas y avoir pensé. Peut-être.  Ce qui donnerait dans le contexte du 1er post  "taponne un peu".  Hum...  je crois pas.


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## 94kittycat

Hmmm... that's all very interesting. I know for sure that it was, "tapoche un peu," and then someone gives him a bag. But there's no other definitions out there except for fighting, tapping, ect... so my teacher is probably wrong.


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## Nicomon

94kittycat said:


> Hmmm... that's all very interesting. I know for sure that it was, "tapoche un peu," and then someone gives him a bag. But there's no other definitions out there except for fighting, tapping, ect... so my teacher is probably wrong.


 
I think so. That your teacher is wrong, that is.   You may want to run by him my theory that the said "long leather bag" could very well be a "punching bag".


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## Cath.S.

94kittycat said:


> Hmmm... that's all very interesting. I know for sure that it was, "tapoche un peu," and then someone gives him a bag. But there's no other definitions out there except for fighting, tapping, ect... so my teacher is probably wrong.


I would like to ask you to post a longer extract of that text, especially the sentence
that come immediately_ before_ "tapoche etc." I'm sure it would also help if you gave us some background information about the characters and what's taking place at the time the guy handles the leather bag.


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## emma42

Yes, we do need more context, otherwise we could be discussing possibilities endlessly and tie ourselves up in knots.


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## Nicomon

Kittycat, I guess egueule and emma are not in total agreement with my leather punching bag theory.  

Would this post of yours be related by any chance? In which case_ flanc_ could mean the sides of the bag (animal reference, 'cause the bag is made of leather). 

Of course, I could be entirely wrong, but I'm envisioning a (long) leather punching bag of that style and a context similar to this, below



> En journées de travail, ça fait exactement 5,138 jours que Lucas *tapoche des sacs* de sable et des visages.


Source

The suspense is killing us. Just what is the story about??


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## Cath.S.

> Kittycat, I guess egueule and emma are not in total agreement with my leather punching bag theory.


It's not that I'm in disagreement with you, Nico, , it's more that I find myself unable to agree or disagree because I don't feel we have enough clues.


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## emma42

I like your theory, but, as egueule says, we don't have enough information to come to a proper conclusion.


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## 94kittycat

Okay. Here is the rest of the story (the tapoche part is at the very beginning-- the first sentence.)

«Tapoche un peu...» qu'il m'a dit en tendant le long sac de cuir.
«Passe ta main dessus. C'est franc cuir, souple comme une jambe de pucelle. Et pas un trou, pas une fissure.»
J'ai pris le sac et j'ai couru à la cabane. Beau sac qu'on peut caresser et aimer pour la douceur de son flanc. Long, je l'ai déjà dit, et bien propre.

Do you want more context? The rest is about how he felt alone in his caban then how he decided to go to the village to show everyone his bag. "Tapoche" is not mentioned again.

Nicomon, this post is also something I was wondering about in the story! See, it's quite bizzare.


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## Cath.S.

Then _tapoche un peu = touche un peu, sens un peu le contact._


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## Nicomon

egueule said:


> Then _tapoche un peu = touche un peu, sens un peu le contact._


 
That's in fact what it looks like, egueule.  However, I know my quebecisms, and this is definitely not what _tapoche_ means. First he says _tapoche un peu_. And in the following sentence... passe ta main dessus... that's the feel part imho. 
Unless « un peu » (which I read as "for a while"/ "a little") is meant to mean a light « tapochage »  I'm still not convinced. 

*kittycat,* who are they? Who's the guy who felt alone in his caban? And who's the guy who gives him the long bag? Do you have any idea? Or better yet, do you have the title of the story? Is it an extract from a book? A movie scenario? 

By the way... I answered your other post re: *flanc*
And in case you were wondering... franc cuir = genuine hide


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## 94kittycat

Salut, Nicomon,

The guy that felt alone in the caban is the main character. Someone different gave him the bag. Actually, this story is called, "Le sac," and is by Yves Therault. "Le sac" is one of many in his book called, "Contes pour un homme seul."


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## Nicomon

Thanks for the info. I'm less convinced about my punching bag theory now.  Though its it written on Yves Theriault's website that he was a boxer, at some point in life. 

From what I found so far, this book (his first of many) was published in 19*44.* And it seems dark and sordid ** May be « tapoche » meant something else back in the early '40s, or in Thériault's vocabulary, after all...


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## 94kittycat

Maybe. The story *was* really creepy-- about this mentally insane guy running around and killing people. Yuck.


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## Gil

Nicomon said:


> Thanks for the info. I'm less convinced about my punching bag theory now.  Though its it written on Yves Theriault's website that he was a boxer, at some point in life.
> 
> From what I found so far, this book (his first of many) was published in 19*44.* And it seems dark and sordid ** May be « tapoche » meant something else back in the early '40s, or in Thériault's vocabulary, after all...


AMA, tu avais raison:
* tapocher*, v. 

De passionnants combats de boxe ont eu lieu, lundi […]. Kid Roy tapoche Bastien […] et Dynamo Montcalm écrabouille Toropoury.
Source: Le Goglu, 1930


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## Nicomon

Merci pour le lien Gil.   

Et surtout ravie de réaliser que je n'ai pas écrit ces posts en vain.


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## Cath.S.

Alors, il lui demande de_ taper dans le sac_ (de boxe ou non_) à coups de poings_ ? Pour en éprouver la solidité, peut-être... Ma foi... on aura vu plus étrange. 



			
				Nicomon said:
			
		

> ravie de réaliser que je n'ai pas écrit ces posts en vain


Nico, nul n'est besoin de _te_ tapocher pour éprouver _ta_ solidité !


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