Dépanneurs
46 comments
·July 10, 2025stevage
heresie-dabord
Dépanneur == Convenience store
Dépanneuse == Tow truck
Il m'a dépanné en me prêtant vingt dollars. == He lent me $20 to help me out.
Ah la belle langue!
gerdesj
An online translation tool managed: "out of order" for "en panne". Your translation is far better because it gives the actual, raw and intended (by a local), meaning and not re-translated that meaning into a trite phrase on the destination side.
"Out of order" is something you see on a broken machine and not something to do with a shop!
One day, the AI kiddies will manage to work out how to stuff "Idia" into their wanky offerings. Until then, I'd rather read comments like yours.
Merci.
esafak
As in, they redress your state of lacking whatever you went to buy there? It sounds a bit contorted but okay :)
kl4m
Yes, it "dépannes" nearby, instead of making a trip to the grocery store.
make3
It is from the word "dépanner", not from the word "panne" directly. "Dépanner" evolved from "panne" to mean just in general, helping someone out temporarily.
A tool that would dépanne you would be a tool that would do the job poorly but well enough for now. This is how the name is meant to be understood, a small store where you can buy like eggs, beer, milk, bread (it's a convenience store), maybe batteries, but not a full grocery store or pharmacy or tool place.
stevage
Maybe it arose from originally being kind of fix it stores that would repair stuff, I don't know.
polivier
Deps are kind of like seven 11. We have a large chain of deps in Quebec called Couche-Tard, but there are tons of no name independent deps, especially in Montreal. You'll often find that many of these mom and pop deps are located on the ground floor of multi-story houses in lower income residential areas, with the owners living in the upper floors.
Most of the sales in deps are cigarettes, beer, soda and snacks. Deps generally appeal to younger people and the working class.
bryanlarsen
Related: Couche-Tard is trying to buy 7-11.
fracus
7-11s are really popular and pimped out in Asia.
thomassmith65
It's the same story with Swedish 7-11s: pleasant atmosphere, tidy, nontoxic pastries, employees who still have a will to live. It is disorienting for anyone accustomed to the American version.
bryanlarsen
In 1989 Seven-Eleven Japan took over the parent Seven-Eleven corporation.
stevage
It's really great that they're still resisting the chains, and the delivery services.
pluc
Nothing unique about deps. NYC has bodegas, UK has Spars, US has 7/11. Wherever you can still go to buy cigarettes/vapes, beer, sweets, sugary drinks and porn mags, that's a dep.
It has long since lost its etymological purpose. Deps are entirely unhealthy waste of spaces now that grocery stores are omnipresent.
gerdesj
I'm (UK) old enough to remember the old school type of corner shop that a "dep" represents. It isn't a Spar (Dutch import) and it isn't a 7/11.
A dep sounds like the subject of "Open all hours". Nurse Gladys would approve!
thomassmith65
Yes, a dep is no different than a corner store with a beer/wine section, but 'dep' is an interesting regional word that is neither used in France nor westward of Quebec.
fracus
I recently learned from this web site that "all dressed" pizza is only used by the English population in Quebec to refer to a mushrooms, green pepper, pepperoni pizza The Quebec French use "tout garnie" which a direct translation. I wonder which was first.
didibus
Deps are unique in that they sell room temperature cheese curds next to the selection of chocolate bars at the till.
tredre3
> Deps are entirely unhealthy waste of spaces now that grocery stores are omnipresent.
One dep takes the space of one apartment, and it helps the thousands of residents around it to not have to walk 15min to get milk.
Seems like a fair trade to me.
null
every
Essentially a bodega...
ctrlp
is there any difference between a dep and a convenience store or bodega or tabac? all look the same. all pretty crappy.
dnpp123
Americans re-discovering convenience stores before they all got transformed into 7-Eleven due to big corporations. How cute.
Before Amazon existed there was a thing called "Librairies" too.
John23832
America is a big place. NYC has a corner store on every corner.
morkalork
A dépanner and a bodega are basically the same. Wonder what other regional names there are for them.
AnotherGoodName
Milkbar in Australia because they used to sell milkshakes and the convenience store aspect was secondary. Over time the convenience store part took over but the name stuck.
helloooooooo
Couche-Tard owns Circle-K and is looking to buy 7-Eleven. It’s literally the worlds largest dép/convenience store chain
dnpp123
Québec people are so creative with the French language, love it.
Why not use the standard French word for it "droguerie"? Dépanneur or Couche-tard does have a lot more charm to it though, agreed.
loloquwowndueo
God forbid the language evolves independently in two regions separated by an ocean.
I find it funny that in France it’s more common to see anglicisms (parking, le weekend) whereas in Quebec more “francized” terms are more common (stationnement, fin de semaine). And then Francois Legault goes and in a speech praising the work of the French language watchdog says “faut faire la job”. Facepalm!
kgwgk
Why do you think that “droguerie” is the standard French word for “convenience store”?
make3
As a Québécois from Montréal, we say Drogue strictly for recreational drugs, so "droguerie" sounds like a word for a crack den.
shawnz
Wouldn't that be a drugstore? That's not exactly the same thing as a convenience store
morkalork
Not tabagie?
null
mertleee
This makes me miss my ex dearly - but Montreal is an incredible city.
deadbabe
A depanneur is like a micro-entrepreneur.
They didn't explain the etymology. En panne means broken, not functioning. Dépanner means to remove something from that state, to fix it. A dépanneur is therefore a person or thing that fixes stuff, gets you out of trouble.