French Phrase of the Day: C’est la loose
This French phrase might come up if you are not very good at board games.
This French phrase might come up if you are not very good at board games.
Because you might hear this come up when chatting with young French people.
C’est la loose - roughly pronounced ‘ say lah louze ’ - is an anglicism that basically means ‘bad luck’ or ‘that’s too bad’.
It is a very informal expression, primarily used amongst young people. The word loose in French comes from the English word ‘loser’ or ‘to lose’. You sometimes see this phrase written with different spellings, such as lose, louse, and louze.
In more formal French, you might say c’est terrible (it’s terrible), pas de chance (no luck) or quelle malchance ! (what bad luck!). For a slightly more casual option, you could say pas du pot ( no luck ).
La loose can also be used to describe a person or team who has lost or has bad luck. In this case, it’s similar to saying ‘the loser’ in English. The more formal version in French would be perdant .
Passer ses vacances sous la pluie, c'est la loose. - Spending your holidays in the rain, what bad luck.
C’est la loose, mec. J’ai perdu mes clés et il était trop tard pour que le serrurier vienne. - It’s such bad luck, mate. I lost my keys and it was too late for the locksmith to come.
Une semaine de la loose pour le vice-président américain JD Vance ( 20 Minutes ) - A bad week for American Vice President JD Vance
