Woman Moves to Paris. She Regrets Learning the Meaning of Her Surname: ‘Why Did Nobody Tell Me?’
Moving to another country is difficult even for those who speak the language. But Ana Petcu moved to Paris with the head start of already speaking French. However, one thing she didn’t know was the meaning of her surname, and when she found out she was left in tears.
Petcu, visibly upset with mascara streaked on her face, told her story on Instagram, saying, “Why did nobody tell me what my last name means in French before moving to Paris?” As it turns out, her surname, Petcu, has an inappropriate meaning in French slang.
“In French, it is pronounced ‘Petcul.’ Pet-cul,” she emphasized, with the letter ‘u’ pushed out in front of her mouth. Although French is not necessarily a tonal language, some words share similar pronunciations.
“Péter means ‘to break’ or ‘to fart,'” Petcu revealed. She continued, “and ‘cul’ means ‘ass’.” She has not yet recovered from the rude awakening. Petcu paused, as if having an excuse-my-French moment with herself.
It’s understandable for bilinguals not to know everything about one language – take it from this North Carolina woman who speaks Spanish but couldn’t even order straight from her local carniceria.
“So, my name in French means Ana Ass Breaker,” she said. But it wasn’t the only possible French slang for her surname.
The French were creative with her surname
“Or no, even ‘farting ass,'” she lamented. Petcu continued, saying that other times, people had misheard her surname and had assumed her name was “Ana Small Ass.” To that, Petcu vehemently denied that she was small in the backside.
“Which is also a path I don’t align with. This is why I eat that vegan bulls**t protein powder every morning. It tastes like the sand between Gandhi’s toes, I swear. I have a fat ass!”
“It is not ‘small ass,’ okay? It’s totally reasonable for my height!” she continued, still not accepting of the slang assigned to her name.
“And I’m not a pro-marriage person, but God, doesn’t anybody have a ring and a last name?” Petcu angrily said on camera. She continued with her outcry, saying she didn’t even need the ring—she just needed a new surname to borrow.
However, Petcu could simply change her surname and skip the marriage bit. This is often quite easy; for example, one woman from Dallas had her last name changed as a gift to her dad. Some people do it because they simply don’t like their surname.
Her surname got even funnier in other languages
“Paris, I’m not done with you. I’m not done with you, this ain’t finished, this ain’t over,” Petcu said. It seems that despite the shocking knowledge behind her surname, Petcu has decided to stay in Paris. But the comment section of her video was not helpful, saying that she missed yet another odd slang term for her surname.
One commenter wrote, “It can also be pronounced “PQ,” which literally means toilet paper in French. Hope this information is helpful.”
Another woman with the surname Petcu commented, “I see, thanks for the warning.”
But more people from different countries started making fun of Petcu’s surname, with many commenters from Brazil telling her that it gets worse in Portuguese. Petcu can be translated as “Peidorreira” and would mean “a person who farts a lot.”
An Arabic speaker even said, “And ‘Ana’ in Arabic is ‘I am.’ Use this information as you may.” Essentially, her first name would make it seem like Petcu identifies with the crooked interpretation of her surname.
But if it’s any consolation, one commenter translated Petcu’s surname into Russian. Apparently, it could mean “very lucky” in the language. It’s potentially the first win and only win Petcu has had since learning about its meaning.
(featured images: Ana Petcu)
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