I’ll be blunt: this French book is a little dirty. Which is fine. Smutty stuff has a place in a French student’s library.

Especially a college-age student, but the contents of Hide This French Book would be helpful for anyone who—for example—has sex. Or would like to have sex. 

There’s plenty of non-smutty stuff, too. You learn how to say things like “eyeliner,” “baseball cap,” and “messenger bag” in French. Slang abounds, as do terms for the basic and practical features of daily life, such as food, sports, shopping, Facebook, and texting.

It was in fact the texting section that was the biggest revelation for me. Did you know that keske C is Qu’est-ce que c’est? And LOL is MDR, mort de rire?

I didn’t!

The book design is chic—a black heavy-duty cover with heavy paper inside and a black, white, and red color scheme throughout. While I did find myself having to battle the binding to keep the pages fully open, I suspect the normal purchaser would not read this start to finish, as I did.

Instead, I picture this book residing insolently on a bookshelf in a college dorm, pulled out periodically as a supplement to the more staid texts of university French classes, when its proprietor needs to know how to translate “What a knock-out!” (Quel canon!), “thong” (un string), or “Look, he’s wearing black socks with sneakers!” (Regarde, il porte des chaussettes noires et des tennis!)