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Author archives: Anne
Se mettre le doigt dans l’oeil
Le mot du jour : Se mettre le doigt dans l’oeil.This is a painful expression 😀 “Se mettre le doigt dans l’oeil” means to put your finger in your own eye, not something very nice when it happens! The signification is to get something completely wrong, or to kid yourself. Ex : “S’il pense que …
Du lard ou du cochon
Le mot du jour : “Du lard ou du cochon”“Du lard ou du cochon” is an expression from the 18th century, and once again, it has to do with food 🙂 “Le lard” in old French used to be the bacon (today it means the fat of the pork) and “le cochon” is the pig. …
Carrément !
Le mot du jour : “Carrément !”This is an expression for everyday life. “Carrément” comes from “un carré”, which means “a square”. It’s employed to express a strong agreement for example. I think that in English, you would use “really” or “completely”. Ex : Il est carrément fort à ce jeu = He is really …
Le lundi de Pentecôte
Le mot du jour : “Lundi de Pentecôte”Today in France is another of these multiple holidays that happen along the year, most of the time for religious reasons, but sometimes for secular ones too (like the end of the two World Wars and Labour Day, for example).So today is a religious holiday, the Monday following …
Tiré par les cheveux
Le mot du jour : “Tiré par les cheveux”“Tiré par les cheveux” ( litteral translation : “pulled by the hair) is a really weird one, because it’s quite hard to understand the link between the translation and the meaning. The meaning is “far fetched”. So, let’s say for example that you just read a novel …
Arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe.
Le mot du jour : “arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe”“Arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe” can be translated by : “to arrive or to happen like a hair on the soup.” It means that someone has turned up at a bad time, or that something is irrelevant.You could say, for example : …
Mettre de l’eau dans son vin
Le mot du jour : “Mettre de l’eau dans son vin”“Mettre de l’eau dans son vin” is to pour water in your wine, to water it down. That expression goes back at least as far as the 16th century. At the beginning, it just meant to mix up some water in the wine to make …
Mettre du beurre dans les épinards
Le mot du jour : “Mettre du beurre dans les épinards”Another food related expression today 😉 “Mettre du beurre dans les épinards” means “to put butter in the spinach” In every day French, it means earning a little bit more money to improve your quality of life. Spinach alone are not great, but a little …
Être de mèche
Le mot du jour : “Être de mèche (avec quelqu’un)“Être de mèche avec quelqu’un” means “to be in collusion with someone”. I was always wondering about that expression, because “une mèche” is a strand of hair or the wick of a candle, so I couldn’t see what it had to do with anything. As it …