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
For your French Vocabulary… click here
and if you want to learn what they never teach in school… click here
