Wait wait wait... So I only know a small amount of French and mostly from media I've watched, so unless I'm mixing words here when I've heard "garçon" (pronounced garsonne?) in a restaurant, they're literally calling the waiter "boy?"

[–] Hazmatastic@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You are correct. This is mentioned in the opening scene of Pulp Fiction by the way.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 2 points 10 months ago

Thanks! It's been such a long time since I watched that, looks like I need to watch it again lol

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Indeed. Never gave a second thought to the word but apparently it's the name of a young male servant. The pronunciation ends with a nasal vowel as there is no trailing "e" at the end. In IPA that's /ɡaʁ.sɔ̃/. If you say /ɡaʁ.ɔn/ it makes it sound female.

Un patron = male owner

Une patronne = female owner