Take a young person who says an incomprehensible sentence, answer “what? and you will almost certainly get “quoicoubeh”. As thousands of students go on vacation these days, the question remains: what will Coubeh survive the summer?
It’s the fault of social networks, again, and it is, for many, the word that will have marked the school year which is ending. Whether they are in elementary or high school, sometimes even in daycare, young people have fallen in love with a game that often targets doubtful adults.
Un jeu verbal « futile », a écrit Le Temps, en Suisse, adopté par bien des élèves « au désespoir des enseignants », a renchéri Le Figaro. C’est certainement un jeu d’une simplicité désarmante qui a traversé l’Atlantique.
Il suffit de prononcer une phrase à la va-vite – l’idée est de n’être pas compris – et de répondre « quoicoubeh ! » à l’interlocuteur qui dit « quoi ? ».
Depuis décembre dernier, bien des profs l’ont entendu ad nauseam dans leur classe, à tel point que certains ont banni le mot. « Je n’en peux plus, mes élèves n’arrêtent pas », témoignait une enseignante sur Facebook il y a quelques semaines.
« Un signe de vitalité de la langue », dit une spécialiste
Le jeune Français par qui le mot (le malheur ?) est arrivé est Cameron Djassougue, dit LaVache (@camskolavache) sur le réseau TikTok. Une entrevue avait été fixée avec lui, mais après avoir promis de nous parler plus tard dans la journée, il n’a pas répondu à nos appels répétés, mercredi.
Il faut donc s’en remettre à ses vidéos pour comprendre d’où a bien pu lui venir l’idée du quoicoubeh. À un autre tiktokeur qui tente une explication sur l’origine du mot, il répond : « Tu réfléchis trop, nom de Dieu, tu dis n’importe quoi : ça ne veut rien dire. »
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![Audrey Desrochers et son fils Raphaël. Ses quatre enfants « savent tous comment [quoicoubeh] says to himself. They do it to me all the time,” she laughs.](https://mobile-img.lpcdn.ca/v2/924x/d89e033f2c8a3fba945e54de27c18e47.jpg)
PHOTO CATHERINE LEFEBVRE, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Audrey Desrochers and her son Raphaël. Her four children “all know how [quoicoubeh] says to himself. They do it to me all the time,” she laughs.
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PHOTO CATHERINE LEFEBVRE, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Adrien Glasser works in artificial intelligence and says he knew the word “quoicoubeh” before his twins, who are just finishing their 1st birthday.D year. What does the word mean ? “Nothing,” observe the boys.
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PHOTO CATHERINE LEFEBVRE, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Ella, 10, is not on TikTok, but she knows the word very well. His father, Ahmed Chetoui, said he made sure it was not a bad taste or “political” joke.
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If the word means nothing, it is nonetheless “a sign of language vitality,” says Nadine Vincent, professor in the communication department at the Université de Sherbrooke and specialist in lexicography.
There is a desire among young people to distinguish themselves from adults and to have their own language among themselves, and there is also a desire to belong to a group using words that adults do not use. It’s a word to trap adults: it’s his vocation.
Nadine Vincent, professor in the communication department at the Université de Sherbrooke
Adults who have been trapped in the last few months raise your hands.
With four children aged 5, 7, 8 and 11, Audrey Desrochers has heard the word “a lot” in recent months.
“They all know how it is said. They do it to me all the time,” she laughs. On the outskirts of the Saint-Grégoire-le-Grand primary school, in Villeray, many children also cited Thursday the expressions “you have the cramps” and “apagnan”, which, they too, mean absolutely nothing, but prevailed.
“OK boomer”
A sociolinguist by training and mother of a 9-year-old child, Monelle Guertin explains that quoicoubeh is an “interjection that is pragmatic and serves to move something in the relationship between two speakers”. It “is used to question authority, to taunt,” she adds.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Monelle Guertin, sociolinguist
Professor Nadine Vincent recalls that a few years ago, “OK boomer” had roughly the same function.
“It was also a final reply, but less in the game than [quoicoubeh]. What I find interesting is that for once, I am not being called to say that young people are using anglicisms. We have a game with the French language and when young people start to play with the language, it’s a very good sign,” says M.me vincent.
In a recent article from Figaroa linguist believed that the word reflected an impoverishment of language and a “desire to hide one’s lexicographical misery”.
On the contrary, says Monelle Guertin. Far from being a threat to the French language, quoicoubeh is a “pure invention” which responds to an idea hitherto left… without a word.
“As it happens from tweens and teenagers, it sinks the usual conservative rhetoric that says young people speak badly. Young people don’t speak badly: they have different ways of speaking,” says Ms.me Guertin.
What lifespan?
Nadine Vincent laughs that she nevertheless understands that it can “be exhausting” for parents and teachers.
With the heat, friends, swimming and ice cream, what will Coubeh survive the summer?
These words have a “very irregular” lifespan, says Mme vincent. “It’s hard to predict. It will perhaps be the memory of a generation.
Monelle Guertin believes there may be a “summer effect”, but also notes that fashion seems to be “eroding” among teenagers. “We can make a hypothesis of decline, but it is difficult to say what will happen from here [la prochaine année scolaire]. »
One thing is certain: “when parents start using it, the word loses all interest”, says Nadine Vincent.