• "Que dalle" is a slang term.
  • It is synonymous with "nothing at all".
  • Its origins are murky.

"Que dalle": here is a nice slang phrase not to be used in a dissertation. Orally, on the other hand, there is no reason to deprive yourself. But have you wondered where this curious expression comes from? Linguists have asked themselves the same question, but before we talk about it, let's first agree on the meaning of the term.

What does "que dalle" mean?

You probably already know: "que dalle" is synonymous with "nothing", neither more nor less. There are, however, two syntactic differences in the use of the two terms.

  • Used with a verb, "que dalle" is always put after it. Thus, we will say "I ate nothing", but "I ate only slab".
  • In the negative, we will also avoid the particle "ne" with "only slab". We can say "I don't see anything", but we will say "I see only slab".

Apart from that, the terms are perfectly interchangeable.

Where does the slab come from?

Before arriving here, you may have thrown yourself on your Larousse, to read with disappointment: "unknown origin". This is true, but it has not stopped linguists from making many hypotheses, including:

  • "Dalle" descends from the Romani "dail", which already means "nothing at all".
  • "Que dalle" comes from the Occitan "que d'ala", that is to say "que de l'aile" (because the wings of poultry are not very generous in meat).
  • "Dalle" is derived from "thaler", an ancient Germanic currency (which is sorely lacking in the poor).
  • "Dalle" is inspired by the Lorraine "dallier" ("to joke", that is to say which means nothing).
  • "Dalle" derives from the Breton "dall" ("blind", so who sees nothing).
  • "Slab" is cousin of the expression "to have the slab" (to be hungry, so nothing in the belly).

In short, for the moment, we know that slab.

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