Language help needed

[skdadl]

Could someone lay out the ways that baiser and embrasser work for me, pls?

You know why I'm asking. There's an American who's trying to figure out why his profane verb is coming out as a kiss in Babelfish. I think I've got it, but I'd like a full reference to what is a noun, what is a verb, etc.

[Antonia]

Baiser  [L basiâre] vt  1.  to  kiss; now used only in expressions like: baiser  qqn au front, baiser la main, baiser une médaille;2.  vulg  (19 century) to fuck.  Seefoutre,  niquer.  In  contemporary French the original meaning to kiss is obsolete.  In  this sense is used the verb embrasser  to  embrace, kiss.  3.  (in  negative)  to not understand. 

• On n'y baise rien. We  do understand nothing of it.

http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/French/Vocabulary/French-Uncensored.html

There's something about pronunciation but I've forgotten.

ie. Baiser pronounced baZEH is different from baisssssez

[lagatta]

Merde! Antonia beat me to this.

Indeed "baiser" used to mean kiss and its use for "going all the way" was originally a euphemism. A more polite way of saying "On n'y baise rien" is "on n'y pige rien".

Un baiser does mean a kiss though, not a fuck. Bons baisers de France! Un bisou! Over here we could also talk about "bons becs"... (familiar).

Foutre means to fuck, but "foutu" is often used to mean ruined. On this side of the pond, in some contexts, we could also say "fucké" - a VERY mild oath. "Niquer" was very popular slang in the late 20th century (originally from working-class and immigrant banlieues and districts of Paris, but it has spread - "nique ta mère" is similar to calling someone a m-f er. NTM is a bit old-fashioned, say younger Parisian friends.

Not quite "Zut alors" though!

[skdadl]

Where does "grosses bises" (sp?) come from? Can someone do a conjugation (you should pardon the expression) for me?

ETA: Maybe that's a declension. How would I know? I'm an anglophone (although I do know how to decline in Latin and German). In English, I just recline.

[Antonia]

I think it's just a short form for bisous. (sp?)

Kisses! Or as Italians say bacci!

[skdadl]

But how does bisous relate to baiser?

[Antonia]

As far as I know bisous is just slang for little kisses. Like air kisses. Not deep FRENCH kisses.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bisou