Molière's Miser Translated into Wesh-Wesh & Your First 20 Words of Wesh-Wesh translated into French and English

An article in last Saturday's Le Parisien newspaper announced that a young Frenchman, Jean Eyoum, has adapted Molière's play The Miser (L'Avare) into Wesh-Wesh, "the language of the cities". The title of Eyoum's adaption is Super Cagnotte, which could be translated as "Mammoth Lotto Jackpot". Eyoum hopes that now he has been able to publish the updated play he will soon find a producer.




When French people refer to "the cities", they don't have in mind Lyon, Marseille or Paris, but the low-cost public housing projects that ring them. Up to 100 different nationalities can live in these "cities" and the language that is spoken there, while rooted in everyday French, is influenced by the vocabulary and syntax of Arabic, as it is spoken in North Africa, and any number of sub-Saharan African languages. 




Wesh-Wesh can also be written ouèche-ouèche. The word Wesh is said to come from the Arabic "waach", which can be translated variously as "Hi!" and/or "What's up?". However the word "Wesh" is not always at the beginning of a sentence. It can be placed wherever there is a need for emphasis, such as in the sentence, "Vas-y wesh barre-toi !" which, apart from the word "wesh" in the middle, is standard city French for "Fuck off!" Wesh-Wesh is both the name of the language and the individual noun for the person, usually dressed in a track suit, who speaks it.




The trilingual glossary below presents twenty original Wesh-Wesh words or phrases, followed by the classical French and English equivalents. It does not contain common Wesh-Wesh words such as "Daron" (père, father), "Daronne" (mère, mother) or "Kiffer" (aimer, to love/like) which have now moved into mainstream French argot. This blog post, like any other work, is not original. It stands on the shoulders of the giants who present the Wesh Wesh dictionary on the web site WeshWeshMaster. My contribution to the study of Wesh-Wesh is just to translate some of the more usual words into English so that you will be able to understand Jean Eyoum's play when it is, as I hope, staged.




1) "Wesh" [pronunciation: ouwaiche] = this is the way to start a conversation or to approve of an idea, whether or not the idea is useful. In some cases, it can be translated into French as "Bonjour" and into English as "Hi!"




2) "b1 ou b1" [bien ou bien] or "b1 ou koi" [Good or what] = is the way to ask a person her physical or psychological state and, in this way, proves that the Wesh Wesh has a very positive outlook on life because the expression prevents all negative forms of reply. The French translation is "Comment ca va ?" and the standard English translation is "How are you?"




3) "tkt" [tinkiete] or "tassur" [tassuR] = are two words for showing you value something. Both words show respect for the work done or the idea uttered. The words can be translated into French as "Beau travail" or "Je suis d'accord avec toi" and into English as "Well done" or "I agree with you".




4) "ta vu" [tavu] = this expression allows the Wesh-Wesh to solicit a compliment or a gesture which will flatter his/her ego in front of the group. The Wesh-Wesh being a person who loves compliments, uses this word at the end of nearly every sentence. Can be translated into French as "T'as vu?" and into English as "How good is this?"




5) "ca pete" [ca paite] or "ca dechire" [ca dechiR] or "tro dla bal" [troo dlaaa bAll] (or "tro dla boulette" depending on which region the Wesh-Wesh comes from) = shows the Wesh-Wesh's approval of the situation in which s/he finds (him/her)self. In French this can be translated into "genial" or "beau travail" or "tu as eu une bonne idee" or "c'est joli"... and into English as "Wow!", "Great!", "What a good idea!" or "How nice"...




6) "trankil" [trankile] = is the word that defines the Wesh-Wesh's state of mind when s/he's talking, but it can also be a compliment. Whatever the situation, the Wesh-Wesh is always in a positive frame of mind. Can be translated into French as "Cool" and into English as "Cool".




7) "grave" [graaave] = is a superlative. Can be translated into French as "très" and into English as "very". "Grave belle," for example translates as "Very beautiful"..




8) "Kwa" [kooa] = is a way of reinforcing the main idea in a sentence. But most of the time it is totally useless, apart from showing the Wesh-Wesh's level of linguistic mastery. Can be translated into classic French as "n'est-ce pas?" and into Irish English as "Do you get me?"




9) "Keuce" [queusse] = translates to the classical French word “sac" or the English word "bag".




10) "Blaze" [blase] = when using this word, the Wesh-Wesh is referring to the name or the pseudo of the person s/he's talking about. Translates into French as "nom" and into English as "name".




11) "gros" [gros] = is a way of addressing a man. Translates into French not as "fat man" but as "Monsieur", into Ivy League English as "Sir". You should now be able to translate the sentence, "Wesh gros bien ou quoi?" into French or English.




12) "da" [da] = is the definite article. Translates into French as "le" or "la" and into English as "the". But the jury is still out on whether it's better to use "da" instead of "le" or "la". Above a certain level of linguistic mastery, the Wesh-Wesh  sacrifices the capacity to communicate with the rest of civilization.



13) "cacededi" [Kassedeidi] = is a way of dedicating something to someone (for example, a song). This is a derivation from "Verlan", the primary speech form of the Wesh-Wesh. Wikipedia's take on Verlan is that it is "an argot in the French language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word, and is common in slang and youth language".



14) « Represente »[wepuizante] = shows the Wesh-Wesh's pride in representing his community. The word "represente" is followed by the two digits of the Wesh-Wesh's French departement, for example, a person from Saint-Denis would say "Represente 93" and a person from Asnières would say, "Represente 92". The number of the department is not pronounced as ninety-three or ninety-two, but as "nine three" or "nine two".





15) "Poto" [poto] = the friend of the Wesh-Wesh. Translates into French as "copain" and into Australian English as "mate".




16) "keuf" [keufe] = in 1968, this word would have been translated into French as "Flic" or into English as "Pig". More polite translations would be "policier" or "cop".




17) "crew" [krou] = a group of Wesh-Weshes. No need to translate this one into English. In French would probably translate as "bande".




18) "zik" [zike] = the sort of sound listened to by the Wesh-Wesh. French translation: musique. English translation: music.




19) "meuf" [meufe] = translates into French as "femme" and into English as "woman".




20) "caisse" [kaisse] = this is an old French word for "voiture". Translates into English as "car".




If you would like to check out a few more complex Wesh-Wesh words and phrases, I suggest you consult the little dictionary of Wesh-Wesh on the FuckFrance website.