Your guide to market trader slang
Oursins dans les poches – An expression used to describe shoppers who look but don’t purchase. An oursin is a sea urchin – a prickly ball of anger that resembles a World War Two maritime mine. Bad customers are said to carry a pocket full of them around so that every time they reach for some money, they prick their fingers and leave their change safely tucked away.
Gibier d’été – Gibier is the word used to describe the local game – hare, wild boar, guinea fowl. When the hunting season finishes the locals turn their attention to a different form of prey – the gibier d’été or the tourists.
Badar – A provencal verb and activity, it describes the practice of coming out for a walk in a market with absolutely no intention of buying anything. The worse kind of badars are those who move from stall to stall indulging market traders in long conversations about their products, tasting food, sipping wine and generally enjoying themselves without spending any money
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