r’bours-pé/èrbours-pé = to rub the wrong way; to get things wrong, to mess up

• oulle a r’bours-pé l’cat = she’s rubbed the cat the wrong way
• il est seu d’èrbours-pé tout = he’s certain to mess everything up
• i’ r’bourpent tout = they get everything wrong

• r’bours = reverse
• pé = fur
• à r’bours-pé = in the wrong way

With a phrase such as fliatter l’cat à r’bours-pé (= stroke the cat against the grain of its fur), we see how the adverbial phrase à r’bours-pé comes to gain a figurative sense.

Laelius used a variant of the expression in his poem Le Vier Garçon:

Car ben des femm’s sont comm’ not’ catte! –
Tout s’pass’ de charm’ tant qu’nou la flatte,
Ou vent se frotter contre vous,
En miaunant, et fait patt’ de v’lous,
Que tout d’abord en viyant ch’la,
Nou dirait qu’ou n’peut faire de ma’,
Mais qu’ non la prenne à la r’bours pé,
Ou sort ses griff’s pour vos grimer.

The Dictionnaire Jersiais-Français gives examples of the adverbial phrase and also cites the verb r’bours-pé/èrbours-pé. The cited infinitive form is rather anomalous, and within the entry the Dictionnaire does happen to give a third person singular form r’bourpe – which suggests that the simple present conjugation of this attested spelling would be written like this:

• j’èrbourpe
• tu r’bourpe
• i’ r’bourpe
• ou r’bourpe
• j’èrbourpons
• ou r’bourpez
• i’ r’bourpent

It would therefore seem logical to provide an additional entry for this verb under the regularised infinitive forms r’bourper/èrbourper. And the regularised forms of the verbal noun: r’bourpéthie/èrbourpéthie.

(Et si ch’est qu’tchitch’un r’bourpe tout, ch’est-i’ don un r’bourpe-tout, ou un r’bourpeux? Et tch’est qu’en est pouor la r’bourp’rêsse? Tch’est qu’ous en criyiz?)

Comparable verb formations:

• co d’pid = kick
• codpîser = to kick

• à bouôn’-tchu = head over heels
• bonnetchuler = to go head over heels; overturn; pull up, rip out