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The expressions from this French region are said to be the most ridiculous, according to a study

undefined undefined 17 mars 2025 undefined 20h00

undefined undefined 18 mars 2025 undefined 09h28

The Editor

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A study published in March 2025 looked into regional expressions and their usage. According to the opinions of the French people surveyed about local expressions, a ranking of different regions was established. And let's just say that the residents of the East aren't going to be thrilled with the results!

You’ve probably experienced a weekend getaway in Alsace, Marseille, or even Lille and heard some curious expressions that are totally baffling to you, but super common in the area! As part of a study, Preply focused on regional languages and how they’re used all across France. With 75 of them, France boasts an incredibly rich linguistic diversity.

In fact, among the 1500 participants surveyed, 67% support teaching regional languages in schools. The study also looked into...

acute;e on expressions considered the most ridiculous. Let's make it clear right away: we completely disagree with the result!

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Alsace Takes the Lead in Rankings

The Alsatians in the editorial team were livid when they saw this ranking. 24.4% of those surveyed think that Alsatian expressions are the most ridiculous, mainly due to their sounds with "sch" appearing everywhere and their tricky pronunciation. Still, we don’t see the difficulty in saying schmoutz (kiss), schlopp (slippers), schatz (treasure), schluck (sip) or schlass (tired), but that’s just us. 

Marseilles expressions take second place, with Lyonese expressions rounding out the podium. So, with 14.4%  fada (crazy), dégun (nobody), minot (kid), emboucaner (to bother) and tarpin (a lot), they just edge out pelo (dude), cher (many), gone (kid), se la racler (to show off) or chaber (to watch).

are considered ridiculous by 12.6% of respondents. 


Six other regions included in the ranking 

12.5% of those surveyed find the Lille expressions drache (rain), braire (to cry), biloute (man) to be ridiculous, while 10.7% pointed out Nantes expressions pochon (plastic bag), guené (soaked), seriner (to drizzle) as those they find the most laughable. 

The Bordeaux expressions such as gavé (a lot), chocolatinean> (pain au chocolat), or aller au maille (to go to work) come next at 8.5%, followed by the Niçoise expressions like bordille (trash), cagade (blunder), or ficanas (curious) at 7.7%. The Toulousain expressions like bouléguer (hurry up), rouméguer (to grumble), or cagne (laziness) and the Montpellier expressions such as péguer  

A response to the eternal debate: pain au chocolat/chocolatine/petit pain?

The study also tried to find an answer to the eternal debate over the terms "pain au chocolat," "chocolatine," and "petit pain." The first is used by 46.5% of respondents, the second by 23.5%, and the last by 30%. We don’t know about you, but we’re a bit schlass of this debate when the obvious answer is "petit pain"... Just saying!