Hi! Frank!

The real thing is, as for English, there are several levels of language
in French. "Il ne fonctionne pas" is the correct expression, the one
that'll be corretly translated by Google or dare I say "academic". "Il ne
marche pas" is the popular and most used way to say this and you'll hear
it in France, in Quebec, in Acadia, in New Orleans and all of French
Africa and we'll all understand the same thing, although we may have some
trouble understanding the Cajun accent! ;-)

Jean

Frank wrote:

Well, it ain't "real" French; but growing up in New Orleans I always
heard "ne marche pas." I never heard "tomber en panne." Maybe it's
because Cajun French is kinda archaic and therefore from the same
period that we got all the radio calls, whereas "tomber en panne" is
contemporary? Just guessing here.

Frank

Merci, cher! I have no trouble understanding Haitians and vice versa;
but as to the rest... grin

Frank wrote:

Merci, cher! I have no trouble understanding Haitians and vice versa;
but as to the rest... grin

Hope I didn't offend you. I forgot to tell it was also the most
beautifull accent and is music to my ears! I would have said that
Moncton's Chiak was the hardest to understand but, is it French? No.
That's switching from French to English every two words or so! ;-)

Best regards "cher"!

Jean
Montreal

No offense taken at all. I'm actually an Irish/German boy from New
Orleans, so my exposure to Cajun French is second-hand. I didn't learn
it as my first language at my daddy's knee like those "down-bayou"
Cajuns, some of whom even went to French-(Cajun)-speaking schools until
high school. grin

This particualr thread/phrase reminds me, however, that even New
Orleanians who don't speak it use a lot of borrowed words and phrases,
like saying (of a broken thing) "It won't march." Obviously carried
over from "ne marche pas."