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A Québecoise teacher taught my class a game, saying what sounded like « on va jouer à ma yoche ». However, perhaps the last two words are one (mayoche), or perhaps I missed an à after jouer and it's actually Yamayoche ...

I can't find any clear words or phrases that sound like this in my cursory searching. There is mioche, which is not a crazy stretch in terms of how the game works, but I'm fairly confident she didn't say /i/ but /aj/.

Can you think of any connections that might lead to identifying the name?


If you're curious / if it helps make a semantic link:

The game in question is a language practice game. Students sit in a circle and each student chooses an identity from some category (animaux, légumes, métiers, etc). One person in the middle holds a pool noodle and calls « X appelle Y », where X is the name of their own identity and Y is the name of someone else's identity. Y must then utter the same sort of formula before X hits them with a pool noodle, and so on. Once some Y is hit with the pool noodle before uttering their formula, they become the centre person. The former centre person has to utter the formula to call the next target.

Three caveats:

  • No loops of length 2: « Chat appelle chien » can't be followed by « Chien appelle chat ».
  • Y may not be the centre person. If Singe is holding the noodle, then « Chat appelle Singe » is illegal.
  • If the centre person hits someone and earns the right to sit down, they must utter the next target formula before they sit down.

Any failure to respect these caveats immediately puts you (back) in the centre.

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  • Sounds like mailloche but definitely doesn't look like mailloche!
    – None
    Commented Oct 17 at 17:49

2 Answers 2

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Quelques sources pour alimenter la réflexion :

Glossaire du parler français au Canada

[ Glossaire du parler français au Canada (extrait de la vedette « mailloche ») ]

Chansons_populaires_du_Canada_(microforme)

[ Source (voir aussi autre source et source moderne avec un synonyme « caboche », confirmant qu'il s'agit de la tête dans ce contexte.) ]

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See the TLFi at maillocher: "on note aussi le sens frapper dans l'Ouest de la France". Looks like the mailloche is the pool noodle with which the players strike each other. Note also mailloche with the meaning "melee" in sports slang. See mailloche.

[ François Jurain, en commentaire (2), modifiés ]

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