After our ‘French chat‘ yesterday I started thinking about French expressions.. or sayings… combinations of words that I hardly ever understand and definitely don’t try and use… They do my head in… trying to make sense of the translation… which, by the way is impossible… but they are so endearing… Sometimes we must accept that there is no explanation as to why something is the way it is… Agree?
Ciel, mon mari
Literal Meaning – Sky, my husband
Actual Meaning – Caught in the act
À bon chat, bon rat
Literal Meaning – For a good cat, a good rat
Actual Meaning – Tit for tat
Aller au charbon
Literal Meaning – To go to the coal mines
Actual Meaning – To do something very difficult or arduous
Quelle mouche t’a piqué?
Literal Meaning – Which fly bit you?
Actual Meaning – What’s the matter with you?
Arrête ton char
Literal Meaning – Stop your chariot
Actual Meaning – Stop bluffing
Avoir le démon de midi
Literal Meaning – To have the midday demon
Actual Meaning – To have a midlife crisis
C’est la fin des haricots
Literal Meaning – That’s the end of the beans
Actual Meaning – It’s the last straw or that’s the end of it
Appeler un chat un chat
Literal Meaning – To call a cat, a cat
Actual Meaning – To call a spade a spade
La goutte d’eau qui fait déborder le vase
Literal Meaning – The drop of water that makes the vase overflow
Actual Meaning – The straw that broke the camel’s back
It is easy to see how much confusion and fun can be had… The only one that I seem to have mastered is avoir un chat dans la gorge... which literally means to have a cat in the throat or as we would say, ‘to have a frog in the throat’… I guess we think ‘croak’ and the French think… ??? Any ideas why a cat would be stuck in the throat?…. Yet when you think about it.. it is no more peculiar than having a frog stuck in the throat…
And what about, tomber dans les pommes… to fall in the apples… which I believe means to faint… What do apples have to do with fainting? Or, poser un lapin… now that is an obscure one… click here if you would like a hint…
So tell me, my fellow Francophiles… what are some other French expressions that we need to know? I can’t wait to say, c’est la fin des haricots… I do love a little bit of drama… and those few words seem to have just the right amount of flourish… but I must be careful… because, courir sur le haricot… well… that means, getting on the nerves! xv
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translations via buzzle - illustration via meliss
This may be difficult for you my English speaking friends, but how do you suppose we French speakers can deal with those infinite verb+postposition possibilities? (A nice example in your post: “They do my head in…”) Understanding them is one thing (well, most of the time at least) but using them! It’s an art I’m never ever going to master…
That is the beauty of our languages… they are always a challenge…
Somehow French, to me, sounds that much prettier than our equivalent English expressions… xv
… and don’t tell me that “c’est quand même pas la mer à boire”!
It’s not difficult… not the hardest thing!! just like drinking all of the sea… Non?? Love this one Frédérique…
Great post! I agree – some of the expressions are “literally” very funny to us Americans. Luckily my husband and sister in law explain many to me – not that that helps – I can never remember them when I could use them.
Oh this post really made me smile, Vicki. I definitely use the last two all the time!! And because I learned my French in such an “off the cuff” manner, I don’t even realize the other expressions that I most certainly pepper my conversations with…I’ll have to think about this one.
BONJOUR mon amie!
This is wonderful. I get a tickling feeling in my soul when I see language learning happening!!!!!! Oh dear, there are so many sayings that I love, am afraid to touch with a ten foot pole and AVOID! But one that I love and live by is:
FAIRE FEU DE TOUT BOIS.- To make the most of what I have.
Anita
That is perfect… ‘make fire of all the wood’..
what a fun and educational post!
Fun post Vicki! And fun comments too !
Here we are, back to the difficulties of learning another language… Expressions are certainly the most challenging part of this learning process.
You say French expressions sound prettier than English ones? Not so sure. I noticed that 1) English/American expressions are often more positive 2) many French ones are related to food and to eating… No surprise… Think about “to push the daisies up” / “manger les pissenlits par la racine” !!!
We all have our own way to learn. If this can help Jennifer: Have a big notebook on which you write down all these delightful or useful expressions which are new to you. Repeat them a couple of times and use them as much as possible. Succès garanti et amusement aussi – de part et d’autre !
“Have a good one” – as we love to say here !
Anne
For some reason this one made me laugh a lot when I heard it, Il fume comme un pompier…. he smokes like a fireman!
Those pompiers!
Perhaps the reason the French say a “cat in the throat” is because when a cat purrs, it seems to be coming from their throat and has a scratchy, grumble-y kind of sound.
The expressions are interesting to know. Thanks!
You can have a French expression, with its explanation, delivered to your inbox every day by clicking on http://www.expressio.fr. And there you will find a possible reason for having a cat in your throat: In 1961 Pierre Guiraud, in this “Les locutions françaises” suggests that it might come from a confusion or a play on words between “matou” (the word for tomcat) and “maton” which originally meant curds. By extension, it also meant piles of fur, wool or paper fibre which could obstruct the throat or nostrils. So having phlegm in the throat is like having curds or “maton” leading to a play on words with “matou”, replaced by the more respectable “chat”. Well, it’s a good an explanation as any, isn’t it? Today’s expression is “Chauffe, Marcel”.
This sounds so fun… I must sign up… Thank you for the explanation…
I agree they just sound so much nicer in French!
Sorry about the typos in the last comment. I obviously didn’t reread it … I forgot to give one of my favourite expressions: “pile poil” meaning “spot on” or “exactly right”. To cut a long story short, “pile” means “tails” (as in heads and tails) and “poil” conveys the idea of precision “to within a hair’s breadth”.
Dear Vicki
Love learning these special expressions. There are some funny rather risque ones in the book “Almost French”, by Sarah Turnbull (I think) as the Australian heroine learns about life and banter in Paris with her French boyfriend and his friends.
Perhaps the first one above, “Ciel, mon mari!” is more intelligible if you take one of the other meanings of ciel: heaven. In other words the expression would then be “Heaven(s), my husband!” – as almost certainly used in French farces. It’s so funny, I feel tempted to start declaiming to my family: “Ciel, mon mari!” Best wishes, Pamela
What fun! There seem to be many lovely fruit idioms in French. I love the phrase ’avoir une pêche d’enfer’, literally a peach out of hell but meaning to be energetic or full of beans perhaps. Also… ‘ramener sa fraise’… To bring back/ regurgitate your strawberry or repeating the same story. ‘Étre bonne poire’ and work ‘pour des prunes’… naive and working for nothing(plums) also make me smile.
Love these… working for plums!!
this is a keeper.!!!
love this post.
THANK YOU
xox
C’est la fin des haricots is my favorite, too. I’ll definitely use that one around the house! XO
I have a couple more from a friend in Paris…
‘occupe-toi de tes oignons’… mind your own business…
les carrottes sont cuites… it’s all over, we have had it !
There is a lot of food talk in these expressions… that’s for sure… xv
Several years ago I worked as a consultant for the Canadian Department of National Defence. I shared an office with a captain from Quebec. We had a whiteboard in the office and every day he would write a new French phrase or word on it and I would write a new English phrase or word on it. We called it our “mot du jour” and we both learned a great deal more about each other’s language than we’d ever done in school.
Vicki – I laughed until je avoir un chat dans la gorge!!! And did I need it. My little 94-year-old neighbor took a bad fall a few days ago and I’ve been so worried about her and trying to get her to let me help her (she’s feisty and I think I “get on her beans” when I’m hovering).
Thank you for this lighthearted and hilarious post. It started my 5-day weekend in such a happy way!
The linguist in me is smiling broadly! Thanks for sharing these, they’re great. Actually I think the cat makes a lot more sense that the frog, all that fur tickling and making you cough…
This is such a fun and educational post! I have been “blessed” with a curvy figure and my mom and aunt used to tease me with “Il y a du monde au balcon” … “There’s a crowd in the balcony”.
Such a beautiful and quirky language. Thank you for this… I have learnt something new. Jx
I wonder if ‘falling in the apples’ has some connection with apples and cider making – both of which have a large connection with northern France – could one be falling in the apples because one is stone drunk? I also thought another meaning was when ‘things had gone seriously awry’.
Lovely post – I love these mad expressions. My butcher and I often swap our equivalent expressions for fun when I go into his shop!
I too have heard that ‘falling in the apples’ can mean ‘things have gone seriously awry’.. I remember my first experience with this expression… A woman was telling me something quite serious and personal… she had ‘fallen in the apples’… and i could not understand at all why she would be in an orchard in the first place and secondly why she was falling over!!
Subsequently I realised that she had been sharing a confidence and was telling me that she had had a ‘bad moment’… at least I think that was what it was all about… It was early days in my French speaking and my comprehension left a great deal to be desired… Fortunately I just listened (for once in my life) and let her talk.. and of course I never let on that I thought she was literally ‘falling in the apples’!! xv
To me “tomber dans les pommes” means “to faint” and nothing else. It could be that it has other meanings in some parts of France, but I doubt it.
Hello Vicki,
How to choose my favourite French expression when I have so many! I love “il pleut comme vache qui pisse” – it’s raining like a cow that pees and “je ne suis pas dans mon assiette” I’m not feeling too good (literally I am not in my plate).
I hope you’ll take a look at my own blog at http://www.figureoutfrench.com. I regularly write about French expressions I come across every day. I’ve also published an iPhone app called Figure out French Expressions Volume 1 which I hope you don’t mind me mentioning here. It can be downloaded from the App Store here http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/figure-out-french-expressions/id489506565?mt=8&ls=1
Thanks for a great post and it was lovely to read the comments from your readers!
These are great expressions!
Remember some years ago at a meeting with French (d’outre mer) mining executives and they talked about the need to avoid being roule dans la farine in their dealings with some of their big buyers (my keyboard doesn’t have acutes or other french accent marks).
Hadn’t heard this before, literally it means of course being rolled in flour but it was a good colourful expression and I think we all got an interesting image and memorable message out of it. Best wishes, Pamela
Vicki – the BEST book on the differences between English and French expressions is called Ciel Blake and Sky Mortimer – you can get it on Amazon UK or Amazon FR
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ciel-Blake-Mortimer-Francais-Anglais-English-French/dp/2913588166
If you don’t have it you will laugh at the differences in our expressions – raining cats and dogs, etc etc
Enjoy
Jan
I’m not sure I use many expressions, but I joke with my friends and say “mère indigne” – unworthy mother – whenever we want to tease each other about being lazy. And speaking of lazy, “Je suis feignante” (sp?) is definitely not something I learned before coming here.
Oh, and I was always confused by “Je n’ai pas fait gaffe” – I did not pay attention, because in English we’ll say “I made a gaffe” which gives it a different meaning.
That’s all I have.
Hahahaha! These are wonderful. I can see how some of them do actually make sense but sky, my husband? Hmmmm….
~ Clare x