If you’re fishing around for a French word to make you sound effortlessly local, look no further.
Why do I need to know astérixé?
It’s a nice casual phrase and also references the greatest ever Frenchman.
What does it mean?
The verb astérixé – pronounced ass-ter-eex-aye – means to make a hard task simple.
It refers, of course, to French legend Astérix, from the comic book series Astérix et Obélix. In the book, the two best friends, living in a Gaullish village in 50BC, both have ways of making what might seem like a difficult task (defeating the might of the Roman army, for example) easy.
Obélix through his giant size and super strength, due to accidentally falling into the druid’s magic potion when he was a baby, and Astérix through his quick wits and cunning.
Therefore, the verb refers to any kind of shortcut, cheat code or more efficient way of working – it is most commonly used in admiration by a fool when someone has been smart enough to work out a simpler way of doing things.
It is one of many French verbs that comes from a noun, and like most of these types of verbs, it functions as a simple ‘er’ verb – it’s most commonly used in the past tense to express how someone has done something (hence astérixé, the passé composé form of the verb) but can also be used in the present or future tenses.
It’s especially common at this time of year.
Use it like this
J’avais beaucoup à cuisiner pour la fête, mais j’ai astérixé grâce à des plats de poisson tout prêts – I had loads of cooking to do for the party, but I found a short-cut with ready-made fish dishes
Mon patron voulait que je rédige le rapport, mais je l’ai astérixé : utiliser ChatGPT – My boss wanted me to write the report but I found a cheat code – using ChatGPT
Avril est tellement maline qu’elle a astérixé à chaque fois – April is so smart, she found a shortcut every time
By Olaf Pirol
