Juilletiste, aoûtien or je-m'en-foutiste ?

A field guide to French indifference, elegant or not.

In France, as summer approaches, there are three types of people: les juilletistes, who always go on vacation in July (juillet). Les aoûtiens, who go in August (août — Say “oute” if you want to sound like a Parisian). And then there are people like me, who couldn’t care less : les je-m’en-foutistes.

Suzon, barmaid des Folies Bergère, a l’air de s’en foutre royalement — Édouard Manet

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So what is le je-m’en-foutisme ? If we check the dictionary — Le Larousse, évidemment — here’s the definition: “An attitude of total indifference toward events.”

Apparently this expression is considered vieilli by the dictionary. Well then. I guess I’m getting old too. Old-fashioned.

Old-fashioned or not, it’s worth knowing. If you’re a je-m’en-foutiste like me, this comes up more than you’d expect.

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The verb to watch out for: foutre

The expression is built on foutre, a verb with a lot of meanings, cousin of a certain English word starting with the same letter — the F. Use it carefully! It’s usually less vulgar than its English relative, but not always:

Je m’en fous.

“I don’t care/I don’t give a damn.” Casual. Fine in most company. “En” replaces “de ça”, je me fous de ça.

Funnily enough, the very first sentence my wife ever learned in French was “je m’en fous, connasse” — courtesy of my very good friend Victoire, also a je-m’en-foutiste, when my future wife asked her what she should say to her future mother-in-law on their first meeting. Thankfully, she never actually used it. Maybe it’ll come in handy one day. In a different context, hopefully.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Now compare:

J’en ai rien à foutre.

That one’s crossed into F-word territory. Know the difference before you say either.

If you would rather skip foutre altogether, there is « Je m’en fiche ». It’s the same but softer. Say this one enough and you become a je-m’en-fichiste instead.

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The polished versions

Not every situation requires “je m’en fous.” Sometimes you want to sound like you’ve thought about it and decided, calmly, that you don’t care.

Cela m’est égal — “It’s all the same to me.” The classic.

Peu m’importe — “It matters little to me.”

Cela n’a pas d’importance pour moi — self-explanatory, and about as warm as it sounds.

Qu’importe — two words, conversation over.

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The everyday versions

For friends, for Tuesdays, for anything that doesn’t need the polish above:

Ça m’est complètement égal — the loud version of indifference. “Ça” is the casual version of “cela,” but it means exactly the same thing.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Je m’en moque — a bit more childish than the others, in a good way.

Je m’en tape — same meaning as je m’en fous, just as casual, arguably even more slangy. Popular with the younger crowd.

C’est le cadet de mes soucis — “that’s the least of my worries,” which is really just a fancier way of saying you’ve got other things going on. Et oui, le cadet is the second-born child — the one who gets less attention, less inheritance, and less of a title than the eldest (l’aîné), and less spoiling than the youngest (le benjamin). I’m a cadet myself. Coïncidence? Je ne crois pas !

That’s it. Pick whichever one fits you. Next time someone asks if you’re juilletiste, aoûtien, or aoûtienne, you’ll have something to say! Or, more accurately, a very elegant (ou pas) way of saying you don’t.

And to finish things off, a little Spoken French: a video from my master, my role model, the guru of je-m’en-foutisme himself:

Team juilletiste, team aoûtien, or team je-m’en-foutiste? Tell me in the comments. No pressure to care either way.

Qu’importe.

À vendredi pour un nouveau podcast !

Timo

Hey, I’m Timothée.

I write about the French language the way it’s actually lived: through cafés, music, awkward conversations, old expressions, cultural rituals, and all the small things textbooks usually forget.

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