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kétaine
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
Spelling variants:ketaine, quétaine, quetaine
adj. — Quebec, rare
tacky or kitschy.
Type: 1. Origin — From Quebec French slang, kétaine, the term's French origin is uncertain, but might be related to quêteux (Canadian French for 'beggar'). Sometimes the term is connected with the bad taste of a particular family, supposedly the "Keaton" or "Keating family" from an unspecified mid-20th century Quebec village (Language Portal of Canada reference, s.v. "Quétaine"). This explanation is likely folk etymology.
See also COD-2, which marks the term "Cdn (Que)".
See also COD-2, which marks the term "Cdn (Que)".
The term is rare in written Quebec English, but does have some currency in written Quebec French.
Quotations
1979
Quetaine. That's the all-purpose word that expresses the feelings of many for the religious manifestations they knew in their youth. [...]
Quetaine: naive, simple-minded, in bad taste, unconsciously ludicrous or grotesque. For many of Quebec's intellectuals today religious phenomena are quetaine. There is little sympathetic interest.
1985
It was all terribly pleasant, but not terribly exciting. There's a Quebecois word, ketaine, that translates best as "kitsch." The style of the tribute to Levesque can be described as la nouvelle ketaine, reflecting all sorts of healthy nationalist values.
1989
"With some of the early material, I worried about sounding dated or quetaine (tacky), but having evolved as a singer and as a woman, I sensed that I was bringing something new to the old songs."
1998
Some of TVA's early offerings were so kétaine, so tacky, it was embarrassing to les snobs who watched or worked at Radio-Canada down the street. No more. Many Rad-Canners jumped ship for TVA, including Simon Durivage, front man for the flagship newscast Le TVA.
2007
Even the shrubbery is going faux. Plastic flowers are still ketaine. But there's a new breed of high-end fakes out there posing as boxwood topiaries and potted evergreen pyramids.
2009
In case the title - which translates as I Killed My Mother - didn't tip you off, this is the story of a 17-year-old guy, Hubert (Dolan), who has some issues with his mother Chantale (Anne Dorval). Actually, Hubert mostly hates his mom, who has the thankless task of raising Hubert on her own. He's an artsy, pot-smoking fellow and his idea of hell is a ketaine mother.
References
- Language Portal of Canada • Quétaine
- COD-2
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