pronounced more or less: zha nay reeyenh ah seeray
Variation: Je n'en ai rien à cirer.
Literal translation: I have nothing to wax from it/about it.
Meaning: "I don't give a fig." / "I don't give a rip." / "I don't give a damn."
Implications: J'en ai rien à cirer expresses total disinterest -- YAWN -- about the person or thing in question.
Remarks: rien à cirer is good for those Karate kid moments when ya just gotta tell it like it is. Of all the familiar French expressions currently used to express the sentiment "I don't give a rip, rien à cirer is the most acceptable, in the widest of circles. As always, there are examples below. For a musical example by French singer-composer Claude Astier, you can listen to his song "Rien à cirer" here: http://www.bide-et-musique.com/song/8801.html
Example One:
Imagine that your phone/Internet service provider is France Télécom/Orange, who ought to start billing for the story material they provide. Seriously. Par contre, you ought to send them a bill to recuperate financial losses caused by their unreliable service. (In fact, I once threatened to do just that and service was immediately restored -- a pure coincidence but a lovely one.)
You sit down at the computer early one morning to compose several important professional emails that absolutely must be on your clients' desk within the next few hours. When you click 'send,' your computer email program tells you there is no connection. Odd: the router box is flashing a green light for the wifi and general Internet. It's also flashing green for the phone connection, so you pick up the receiver to check. Dead. You check your router again, all looks well, but you re-boot just in case. To no avail. So you call 3900 (customer service) from your cell to ask if there's a problem with your line only or if it's a general outage. Madame FT tests the line and announces that there is no problem and no general outage either. Hmm, where have you heard that one before?
She asks if you've checked your computer. Is it on? You want to scream J'hallucine ou quoi?! but politely answer yes, of course. Next she tells you to re-boot the router. She must be reading down the list of stall tactics from her Customer Service Guide Book. You imagine "On n'en a rien à cirer" printed on its cover in big red letters.
Next she tells you that you'll have to re-initialize the system. You don't tell her, but there's no way you're going to do that because you're sure there's a general outage and that for some bizarro-world reason, the FT system isn't detecting it. Madame FT talks non-stop with useless suggestions -- pipeau effectively letting you know that this is YOUR problem and that customer service n'en a rien à cirer. Merci la France.
Example Two:
You call around to discover that no one else in the village has Internet/phone service, so you head into the closest city to send your emails at an Internet café. On the way, you spot a service van headed toward your village. Hmm. On the way home, you pass the van again, headed in the opposite direction. You hope the connection has been repaired. It hasn't. Your cell phone rings: it's the lady from Customer Service, asking if you've re-initialized the system and is your connection now working? No, you tell her. There is a general outage here, no one has service. Oh? she asks, please hold while I check the line. Yes, indeed, there is a problem; I'll notify our repair crew immediately. Is there anything else I can do for you today? No, thank you, you've done quite enough, I couldn't possibly ask for more. France Télécom customer service? Je n'en ai rien à cirer, Madame.
No comments:
Post a Comment