Perpète-les-Oies and Petaouchnouk: origins of these bizarre French expressions
Being familiar with these little French idioms is sure to elevate your French to the next level
Do you know anyone who lives in Perpète-les-Oies?
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French, like English, is full of funny little expressions that can take your level of fluency in the language from very good to almost native.
Most of the time these phrases and idioms reflect historical, social, and cultural contexts.
When you learn them, you gain a better insight into French culture as a whole, which can help you form stronger bonds with French colleagues and neighbours.
They can also help you crack a joke or two in French, something notoriously difficult for second language learners.
Read more: Unlocking the puzzle of French humour
As well as improving your overall French level, learning these expressions makes the process of language learning more fun – they often come with interesting stories or quirky origins.
An example of such expressions is ‘Perpète-les-Oies,’ a colloquial way to refer to an extremely remote or isolated place, as we would say ‘the middle of nowhere’ or ‘the sticks’ in English.
Origins and meaning
In terms of how the phrase is constructed, ‘perpète’ creates the idea of a very long time (think of the English word perpetual).
It is often used to talk about life imprisonment but it can also translate as forever.
Meanwhile, ‘les oies’ literally translates to ‘the geese’, but in this case it adds a whimsical and rural element, evoking common old French names for rural villages.
In the past, countryside farms often had the name of the animals reared there in the farm’s title.
Together, they form the idea of an almost mythical place that is faraway, unknown, or pejoratively ‘impossible’ to reach.
You may joke that a friend who lives very far away resides in 'Perpète-les-Oies', or our commute to work takes so long because you have to drive from there each morning.
There are a couple of alternatives possible in French: Petaouchnouk means the same thing.
Etymologically speaking, it mimics the name of a distant Russian town, such as Petropavlovsk, and has been around since the 1920s in forms like Pétaouchnock or Pataoufnof.
You may also hear ‘perpète-les-olivettes’ which again evokes the idea of somewhere very faraway and rural, with olivettes referring to olive groves. This one may be more common in the south of France.
Read more: Learning French: unravelling popular shortcuts and contractions
