V

va (Imperative of aller): 1 Vapour…: O.K. for …Va pour trois briques! Alright, I’ll settle for three grand! 2 Va donc! (Insult intensifier): Va donc, eh couillon! You stupid idiot, you! (More current in everyday speech is va! with no specific connotation; its sole function is to emphasize a statement. Je t’aime bien, va! You know I love you! Tu es mechant, va! You’re really bad to me! Il est gentil, va! He’s a nice boy! Sometimes it is merely a ‘rhetorical prop’ like the Liverpudlian ‘you know!’. C’est pas difficile, va! It’s not difficult, you know!) 3 A la va-vite (adv. exp.): In a slapdash manner, in a rushed and careless way. 4 A la va-comme-jete-pousse (adv. exp.): In a ‘happen-what-may’ careless manner. Elle nous a servi à bouffer à la va-comme-je-te-pousse! She dished up the grub just any-old-how! vacant adj. ‘Skint’, ‘broke’, penniless. Compte pas sur lui, côté larfeuille il est vacant! I wouldn’t bank on him, mate, I think he’s skint! vacciné adj. 1 Forearmed through previous experience. Après deux mariages, côté bonnes femmes, je suis vacciné! Having been hitched twice, I know what to expect from women! 2 Avoir été vaccine avec une aiguille de phono: To be ‘something of a gasbag’, to be an endless prattler. 3 Avoir été vaccine avec une queue de morue: To have a ‘sloping gullet’, to be fond of one’s tipple, to have more than a liking for alcoholic beverage. (The origin of the expression lies in the salt-fish nature of cod in days gone by, when morue salée was a popular cheap dish likely to bring on thirst.) vachard adj. 1 (of person): ‘ldle as the day is long’ (probably as energetic as a cow). 2 (of person): ‘Nasty’, awkward. 3 (of problem): ‘Tricky’, near-insoluble. Ils sont vachards, ces mots croisés! This crossword puzzle leaves me stumped! vachardise n. f. 1 Laziness, state of complete and complacent idleness. 2 ‘Rotten trick’, nasty action. Depuis qu’on est ici, il n’a cessé de nous faire des vachardises! From the day we moved here, he tried every dirty trick in the book! vachasse n. f. (pej.): ‘Big fat biddy’, very plump and unattractive female. vache n. f. 1 (pej.): ‘Copper’, policeman. Les vaches: ‘The fuzz’. (This seemingly injurious appellation, as well as the expression Mort aux vaches!, has nothing to do with the bovine species. Mort aux vaches! is said to have originated after 1870 in occupied AlsaceLorraine where the German military police force, die Wache (the watch), focused discontent among the occupied, and