@vero …as you say… it is a joke, that our French friends often make… said with a big grin…no offence intended and none taken. 
I can imagine.
As it happens I didn’t know saoule, so one more for the vocab list. I also don’t know how good google translate’s ability to pronounce words is when it comes down to fine details (I know of some it still gets wrong such as Malestroit and Pénestin but I digress).
However I confess that its pronunciation of saoul/e is closer than I’d like to mine of seule/e 
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Ditto. Our French neighbours say it all the time.
Seul - the safest way is to say it like “serl”, then it won’t be confused. Then pout your lips while you say it to get a very slight hint of a “u” sound into it. But don’t pronounce the vowel itself as 'oo" or ‘u’.
“Bonne Fin d’Année” … is what is being bandied about at the moment…
which will presumably change to “Bonne Fête” at the weekend and then… Bonne Année in the new year… 
It used to tickle me how they always wish you a bonne année 20XX - as if you needed to have it spelled out which specific year the good wishes are for - but now it seems entirely normal, and I keep wishing people “a Happy New Year 2018”. They probably wonder why. But it’s funny how quickly you assimilate customs that seemed odd at first.
I love the way everyone exchanges the New Year verbal greetings and cards… right through the month of January… phew… often accompanied by the invitation to share a drink… hic 
Yesterday, I had someone wish me… “bon dernier week-end 2017”
Perhaps today, someone will say… “bonne dernière dimanche 2017”
yippee…
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While learning French in France, my teacher arrived for my lesson with a broken leg. Knowing she lived alone, I innocently asked, ‘étiez-vous touts saouls?’ Oh the laughter up and down the halls when she repeated it many times!
Today, I wished the schoolbus driver …“bon week-end”… and his reply… “merci de même” …I take to mean “thanks, same to you”…
After all these years, I’m still learning… 
Yes. It’s a phrase I hear a lot in shops. It means “the same to you” as you said.
Mandy… I’ve obviously got my thoughts ~“same to you” across to my French pals… but not by such a short route…
I am muttering it now, so that it will spring out casually in conversation… and (hopefully) surprise them. 
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I have a friend who says (what sounds like) bailes…I know that he is talking about money … for example " ça ma couté cinq bailes" and I understand perfectly. I have found myself using it, along with other words, like “bedidon” etc; I can’t explain how words like these make sense but somehow they do ! 
Maybe I listened to too much Renaud over the years (flingue, clop, and many other such expressive words) 
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Trying to learn from friends… I will sometimes ask them to write down a word or phrase…that they have used in a conversation with me.
I will have understood the intention, but sometimes I cannot imagine what the actual words are…
Keeps the brain cells ticking over though and alzheimer at bay, hopefully.
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Sens 4
Argot
Argent, synonyme du Franc ou de la monnaie en cours.
Exemple : 100 balles.
No idea on “bedidon” though!
EDIT - it couldn’t be “Ben dis donc” could it ??
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the “dis don” bit pops up a bit… with a particular neighbour.
Madame C will be complaining about something (could be anything at all)… she rambles on and then, often, she will shrug her shoulders and say, almost defiantly… “ben dis donc”…
Can’t really translate it, but I feel somehow, that I know what she means, depending on where it pops up, in the course of the whole conversation…
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Dis donc! just means gosh! you don’t say! well I never!
and the Ben is from Eh bien! - well!
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Ha ha Anna… she throws it into the middle of whatever… I always thought it might be another way of saying “et voila”…
your translations would give me… “well, there it is…” which works well for me
thanks
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Ben voilà, yes you hear that a lot.
Also Bon ben - OK, well…
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the more we rummage through these phrases…the more I understand how my neighbours manage to understand me… they are used to mish-mash amongst themselves
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