Patraque is a wonderfully colloquial French word that means "under the weather" or "out of sorts." It's often used to describe a person feeling a bit unwell, but in this song, it's humorously applied to a computer.
The lyrics state, "J'ai le Mac qui est patraque" (My Mac is under the weather). This personification of a malfunctioning computer is both clever and relatable, making patraque a memorable and engaging word to learn.
“L'informatique” is a laugh-out-loud inventory of every computer catastrophe you can imagine. The French trio Chanson Plus Bifluorée turns a simple list of tech troubles into a comic fireworks show: a patraque Mac, a calcium-starved Pentium, USB ports that are “constipated,” even pixels spinning in circles. With each witty rhyme, the singer’s frustration grows, yet the upbeat rhythm keeps the mood light, turning digital despair into musical mischief.
Beneath the jokes hides a very relatable truth: our modern love–hate relationship with technology. The narrator wastes hours, ruins a date and nearly loses his sanity, but he still calls the whole mess “palpitant” and wonders how we would cope without it. The song is a playful reminder that computers may drive us crazy, but their chaotic charm keeps us forever plugged in.