French word of the day: Intello
When you need to channel your inner nerd in French, this expression is for you.
Why do I need to know intello?
Because it's a common abbreviation.
What does it mean?
Intello is a common French abbreviation of intellectuel, which means 'intellectual' in English.
French online dictionary l'Internaute defines un intello as "an individual who engages in mainly intellectual activities".
It can mean simply a a studious type, a nerd or a geek, but it can also be a pick at someone who is a bit arrogant with their knowledge, what you in English would call 'highbrow' or 'egghead'.
A man is un intello, a woman une intello, while several people are des intellos.
Intello can also be used to say that something is 'nerdy', 'geeky', or requires a lot of brain capacity to process. A three-hour long subtitled film about an underground Ukrainian artistic community could be said to be un truc intello - 'a nerdy thing'.
French people sometimes talk about their coté intello, which means their 'geeky side'.
Just like apéro (short for apéritif), ventilo (short for ventilateur - 'fan') and matos (short for matériel - 'equipment'), intello has become pretty much as common as the original word.
Use it like this
Il a tout le temps le nez dans ses livres, cet intello. - He always has his nose in his books, that nerd.
Tu as tous les films Star Wars ? C'est ton côté un peu intello ? - You have all the Star Wars movies? Is this your geeky side?
Les étudiants à l'université me font un peu peur, ce sont tous des gros intellos. - The students at the university scare me a little, they're all such highbrows.
Lire n'est pas un truc d'intello, c'est pour tout le monde. - Reading isn't a thing for nerds, it's for everyone.
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Why do I need to know intello?
Because it's a common abbreviation.
What does it mean?
Intello is a common French abbreviation of intellectuel, which means 'intellectual' in English.
French online dictionary l'Internaute defines un intello as "an individual who engages in mainly intellectual activities".
It can mean simply a a studious type, a nerd or a geek, but it can also be a pick at someone who is a bit arrogant with their knowledge, what you in English would call 'highbrow' or 'egghead'.
A man is un intello, a woman une intello, while several people are des intellos.
Intello can also be used to say that something is 'nerdy', 'geeky', or requires a lot of brain capacity to process. A three-hour long subtitled film about an underground Ukrainian artistic community could be said to be un truc intello - 'a nerdy thing'.
French people sometimes talk about their coté intello, which means their 'geeky side'.
Just like apéro (short for apéritif), ventilo (short for ventilateur - 'fan') and matos (short for matériel - 'equipment'), intello has become pretty much as common as the original word.
Use it like this
Il a tout le temps le nez dans ses livres, cet intello. - He always has his nose in his books, that nerd.
Tu as tous les films Star Wars ? C'est ton côté un peu intello ? - You have all the Star Wars movies? Is this your geeky side?
Les étudiants à l'université me font un peu peur, ce sont tous des gros intellos. - The students at the university scare me a little, they're all such highbrows.
Lire n'est pas un truc d'intello, c'est pour tout le monde. - Reading isn't a thing for nerds, it's for everyone.
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