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French expression of the day: Fayot de la classe

The Local France
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French expression of the day: Fayot de la classe
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond"

You could become the dry bean of your French class with this expression.

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Why do I need to know fayot de la classe?

Because it is difficult to translate directly and it's a convenient one to know, especially if you have kids in a French school.

What does it mean?

Un fayot can either refer to a dry bean, or someone who works hard to get recognition. De la classe means 'of the class'.

The best English equivalent is therefore probably 'teacher's pet'.

The image below illustrates it like this: "Teacher: Well, who want's to wipe clean the board? The fayot de la classe:"

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Fayot de la classe can be shortened to just fayot, if the person targeted is trying to impress other superiors than a teacher. In this sense, the English equivalents are 'kiss-up', 'suck-up' or similar.

For example, espèce de fayot, which directly translates as 'species of fayot', means something like 'what a kiss-ass'.

It's not a very nice thing to call someone.

Use it like this

La France a tellement voulu faire plaisir à l'Union Européenne, Emmanuel Macron est le fayot de la classe. - France wanted so bad to please the European Union, Emmanuel Macron is the teacher's pet.

J'en peux plus de ce fayot. - I can't take anymore of that suck-up.

C'est la fayotte de la classe, celle-là. Mais on l'aime beaucoup quand même. - She's the teacher's pet, that one. But we like her a lot all the same.

Synonyms

Lèche-botte - boot-licker

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