A long time ago I used to watch a TV learning series
called French in Action about a young boy and girl living in Pars. It
was for mid-level students of the language and dealt with basic situations and
presented grammar in context. Braquo is nothing like that
series. The language that the cops and gangsters speak has little to do with
school French. It’s like the writers have gone way out of their way to create a
unique language that is nothing but slang, profanity, and guttural shortening
of words. The dialogue reminds me a lot of Elmore Leonard in that it’s so
ungrammatical and riddled with slang that it barely qualifies as French.
First of all, this series is a gold mine of cool
French slang words beginning with the name, Braquo. What the hell is a “braquo.” On the website it says “Pris
dans un engrenage mortel, ils vont être obligés de monter au braquo.” Caught in a deadly
spiral they must pull off a braquo (armed robbery, heist). So “braquo”
ain’t in no dictionary and was found in a French rap song.
Next there is the intro music and credits to the series which are very
cool…and not too long. I loved The Wire, hated the intro music, ditto
that for The Sopranos, True Detective, and a lot of other series.
The casting is top-notch and everyone looks like who
they claim to be. I especially like the figure of Lemoine, a slimy little
gangster tough guy. The internal affairs cop is another skeezy piece of work.
Most of the actors have a distinctly un-Hollywood look to them; most would be
considered too scuzzy for USA movie work.
Crazy action scenes and realistic while running at a
breath-taking pace. The show basically took its style from The Shield
which was more or less the same theme of bad cops running wild. Braquo
has some cliffhangers guaranteed to keep you up way past your bedtime so be
warned that any attempt to watch a single episode may be all but impossible.
Vocabulary
Canards – newspapers (duck)
Gueule – mouth, mug, face
Clebs – dogs
Pot – drinks party pot de depart
Taule – slammer or digs, pad
Chiottes – shitter
Lambda – average, ordinary. T'es pas un flic
lambda, Eddy.
bordel – brothel, mess
péter un plomb – go crazy
bosser – work boulot ¡Au boulot!
mômes – kids
fringues – clothes (threads)
fringuer = habiller
couilles – balls
casse-couilles – pain in
the ass
tronche – face, mug
manouches – gippos
minables – wretched Ça
restera l'histoire de deux flics minables
puer – stink tu pues l’alcool
trou – jail
gonzesse – broad, woman
marmot – kid, brat
marmaille – brood, gang of kids
brebis galeuses – bad apples, black sheep
coller – stick, glue, tailgait
Chier – to shit, crap
dans la même calèche
jacter = bavarder – chat,
toubib – doctor
sangloter – weep
camé – on drugs
stups - drugs
sucer, suçais – suck
balancer – to rat out,
snitch J'ai l'IGS au cul. Ils veulent que je te balance.
Intox – bluff, myth . Il
te le fait à l'intox
flingage – shoot-out
flinguer – shoot
pige (anné) – year
bite – cock, prick
crapule – scum, crook
cagoule – balaclava
le pognon – loot, money
la thune - money
enculé – cocksucker, asshole
enfoiré - asshole
fouiller – search
pote – pal, buddy
raclure – louse
patauger – wade, trudge On patauge dans la
semoule go nowhere fast
queue = dick
queutard = man who makes extensive use of his dick, horndog
queutard = man who makes extensive use of his dick, horndog
DAB – ATM (distributeur
automatique de billets)
Taper - hit, Je
vais taper un DAB avec Lemoine.
Tuyau – tip
Bagnole – car, ride, wheels
Tirelire – moneybox
Voyou- gangster, hood
Basse besogne – dirty work
Flingage - shoot-out, gunfight
Barbouze – spy, spook Gimenez a viré barbouze.
Became a spy
Mijoter – simmer.stew, plot, scheme
La vache! - ¡Qué bueno!
Oh, la vache, il est bon.
Amour vache – love/hate relationship
Manger de la vache – live hand-to-mouth
coup de fil – phone call
L'habit ne fait pas le moine
Branler – be up to Qu'est-ce
que t'as branlé entre le massacre et maintenant?
Friche – wilderness
Becqueter – eat, nosh
Rencard – rendezvous
casse-toi – get lost, fuck off
fissa – chop-chop
oseille – money, cash
rade – corner bar
