A few years back, I was temping at an office in Montreal where I was the only Anglo. The ladies in the Charting Department kept bandying about this word—or words, I wasn’t sure which—full fru. When I finally mustered enough courage to ask what it meant, a young woman answered, “You don’t know it? But it’s English.”

If you’ve ever spent time here, you’ve probably noticed that English Montrealers speak a different kind of English—just as French Montrealers speak a different kind of French. This mélange is commonly known as Franglais or Frenglish, depending on how you roll.

My co-worker kindly broke it down for me—fru is short for frustré (frustrated) and full fru literally means full of frustration.

“You don’t say that in English?” she asked.

“No, but I think I’ll start!”