Literal translation
To speak pointedly, with a sharp accent
Meaning
to speak French with a northern accent
Explanation
This expression names, from a southern point of view, a way of speaking French perceived as narrow and clipped, typical of speakers from northern France or lacking the singing accent of the Midi. The adjective pounchu (pointed) ordinarily describes something ending in a point, and applied here to a way of speaking it evokes sounds felt to be tighter, more nasal or less open than the fuller, more relaxed southern pronunciation of vowels. The judgment is not neutral: calling someone's speech pointed often carries an amused or slightly mocking nuance about a difference in geographic origin perceived as a relative oddity. It is used in contrast with the local accent, to name any French accent felt to lack roundness, whether from Paris or elsewhere in the north of the country. The register is familiar and identity charged, revealing a fond but teasing relationship Provençal speakers have with their own way of talking against what they perceive as the dominant one.