Whatever en Français

So I really don't feel like writing about cancer today (even though this is my "cancer blog") because cancer is annoying. Before I became "cancer girl," wherein people would refer to me as "that girl with cancer," and not "that groovy chick," or "Jenn," or "hey you," I was often known as "Frenchie," because of my total love of French language and culture. I was supposed to spend the summer in Provence, but I got cancer instead. My body decided that it would much rather be hooked up to poisonous chemotherapy in a hospital bed than lounging on the beaches of the Riviera. But I digress. Anyway, I will be going on a linguistic detour and you are welcome to come along.

One of the many reasons that I love the French is because they have so many ways to say “Whatever.” They originated blasé, and gave the English language the word apathetic. One of the classic French stereotypes is the blasé French man or woman smoking their cigarette and drinking their glass of wine, and generally looking like "I don't care." Not that I’m advocating that anyone turn to booze or tobacco to deal with their problems, but that's the stereotype. And the French do drink more and also eat more saturated fat than we do – and they live longer! Zut alors! (aww shucks) There are many books about this phenomenon, called the French Paradox, but my favorite are the accessible chick-lit books by Anne Barone.

From my conversations with French people, I have observed that they don't seem to care so much about the everyday things (at least this is my impression). They prefer to talk about a new book or wine or something hyper-intellectual or existentially deep, and don't seem quite as prone to gossiping or dieting competition or other stupid things because I suspect that they just don't care. I have certainly noticed that they have more ways of saying, "I don't care," than we do in English.

Some of the many ways to quote Rhett Butler and say "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," in French:

Que sera sera = What will be, will be

Tout m’est égal = It’s all the same to me

C’est la vie = That’s life.

Ça va = Life’s ok (lit. it goes)

Ça me fait rien = It’s nothing to me

N’importe quoi = Whatever

Ça plane pour moi = That’s how it’s going for me (I'm not sure, but I think this is dated slang; it means something like “great,” but in an ironic sense)

The classic Gallic shrug - that nonchalant way that French people shrug (about the weather, their boyfriend leaving them, an alien invasion, or anything really)

I couldn’t think of anything else, but I’m sure there are others. Oh well, tout m’est égal. On a sort of unrelated note, here is a completely demented video of the end of the world, with a stereotypical French response. (Warning: this contains every curse word imaginable, cartoon violence, offensive cultural stereotypes, and is not exactly terribly edifying - though its redeeming qualities include that it does contain a strong anti-violence message and is crazy funny):

The End of the World