Bizarre French Expressions: January
It’s time for a recap of the past four weeks' weirdest French expressions
Harness your worst gallic accent and get ready to impress (or horrify) your French friends: it’s time for a recap of the past four weeks’ weirdest French expressions! 🇫🇷 🥖 En garde!
Broyer du noir.
Literal translation: To crush some dark.
Meaning: To be depressed, to feel downhearted.
Example: “Since moving into his £1,500 per month single bedroom in south London, Matt is crushing some dark.”
Origins: In the 16th century, painters would quite literally crush some dark things like burnt wood to create dark paint.
"Avoir la gueule de bois."
Literal translation: To have a wooden face.
Meaning: To have a hangover.
Example: “I have such a wooden face, my brain is literally stuck to my skull…”
Origins: Apparently, it comes from the feeling of being dehydrated like a piece of wood.
"Pedaler dans la semoule"
Literal translation: To pedal in semolina.
Meaning: To struggle, to flounder.
Example: “When attempting to justify the massive layoffs right before Christmas, the CEO pedalled in semolina.”
Origins: Apparently comes from the cyclist tradition in France (Tour de France).
Note: There are regional declinations, semolina can become yogurt, sauerkraut (in the East.)
"Coûter les yeux de la tête"
Literal translation: To cost the eyes of the head.
Meaning: Something being extremely expensive.
Example: “Have you seen Genevieve wedding gift list!? Everything costs the eyes of the head!”
Origins: Presumably people who put a high value on their eyes.
“Se faire rouler dans la farine”
Literal translation: To get rolled in flour.
Meaning: Basically, it's when you're sneakily tricked or made a fool of.
Example: “Ah, I fell for it again. Sucked into another 'how to succeed on Substack' essay, and surprise, surprise, it offered absolutely nothing interesting. Yep, got rolled in flour.”
Origins: No, it's not about a baker joyfully tossing his baguette in flour. It actually hails from theatre, where actors powder faces to make-believe.
Se prendre un râteau.
Literal translation: To get raked.
Meaning: Fail spectacularly at seducing someone.
Example: “At the art gallery, Max tried to impress Sonia with his knowledge of impressionism, but his attempt at seduction got him mercilessly raked.”
Origins: I prefer the idea that it’s the slapstick ‘walking on a rake joke’, but apparently it comes from the word rat, and a very old expression saying that someone’s musket took a ‘rat’, meaning it did not fire.
Avoir un coup de barre.
Literal translation: Feeling hit by a bar.
Meaning: To be hit by a tremendous tiredness.
Example: “En route to his corporate weekend in Slough, George felt hit by a gigantic bar. ”
Origins: Tracing from the Latin 'barra' to the French 'barrière', the expression is quite literal for once. The impact is felt either on the head, the chest etc…
“Vouloir le beurre, l'argent du beurre et le cul de la crémière”
Literal translation: To want the butter, the butter’s money, and the ass of the dairymaid.
Meaning: To want everything without giving anything in return. Sort of similar to the British saying ‘to have your cake and eat it too.’
Example: “Sir, I do believe that after Brexit, we will have the butter, the butter’s money and the ass of the dairymaid.”
Origins: 19th century peasant expression. The butter is a recurrent theme in French common sense sayings.
Ils sont vraiment drôles, et je crois que j'en connaissais deux (ma mère étais francophone)
How about sharing the French sentence too in each example?
This is marvelous... somehow I feel the phrase, “Sir, I do believe that after Brexit, we will have the butter, the butter’s money and the ass of the dairymaid.” will live on in my brain for all eternity. 😂