Lesser-known French abbreviations to listen out for: just add 'O'

We usually enjoy looking at the kind of French language and phrases that one would never have been taught by a French teacher in a British or American school. However, in this article we look at a linguistic trend that is not taught in French schools either – even though it is youngsters or young professionals who primarily drive it. 

We are talking abbreviations, in which a word is shortened either through trying to be cool among les potes (pals), to save time or because it is an unofficial way of talking (façon de parler) among colleagues (collègues). 

Two examples occurred in a single day of my everyday French life recently. 

In the morning at the kiné (physio) my kinésithérapeute du sport (sports physiotherapist) was having the usual ‘banter’ (the French don’t have direct translation – they would use plaisanterie or badinage) with a colleague and they were talking about another patient’s ‘ordo’.

I had never heard the word ordonnance (prescription) reduced in such a way before, but understood what they meant immediately and so filed it away for future use.

Later that evening, while enjoying the excellent second season of the Paris police drama BRI on Canal+, one of the tough-talking characters talked about someone still being in the ‘hosto’. Again, I’d not encountered this abbreviation previously, but knowing the drama’s plot, I knew this meant ‘hôpital’.

More common uses of an abbreviation with an ‘o’ at the end of a curtailed word are ‘ado’ for adolescent, ‘resto’ for restaurant and ‘labo’ for laboratoire.