Summer holidays! This page is taking a break 😄

Wishing you all a beautiful summer : très bon été à tous !

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 le problème est réglé, il se met le doigt dans l’oeil !” (If he thinks the problem is solved, he is completely deluded)

I am not sure about the origin of that expression, but I can understand how poking your eye by mistake can be considered a big error!

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.

Basically, le lard and le cochon were the same thing, so when people said “je ne sais pas si c’est du lard ou du cochon” (I don’t know if it’s bacon or pork) it meant that they hesitated between two things, not knowing which one was which.

Today, the expression is used when you don’t know if something is true or not.

Example : “Il a appelé pour dire qu’il était malade mais je ne sais pas si c’est du lard ou du cochon” (He called in to say that he was sick, but I don’t know if it’s true or not)

So remember, if you find something suspicious, just ask : “C’est du lard ou du cochon ?” 😃

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 good at that game.Tu as faim ? Carrément ! = Are you hungry ? Yes, I’m starving!

So if you want to sound French and casual, don’t hesitate to punctuate your sentences with that word, it’s “carrément” easy 😉

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 the “Pentecôte” (Whit Sunday). The Pentecôte word comes from the Greek pentêkostề hêméra, which means the 50th day (after Easter).

In the Christian tradition, it celebrates the Holy Spirit being send to the disciples. The celebration itself takes place on the Sunday, but for reasons I don’t quite understand, some countries, including France, decided to take the day off on Monday too 🙂

I can’t say I am surprised by that, as a country we do love a day off work 😄

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 with an overly complicated plot, then you can say : “Oh cette histoire est vraiment tirée par les cheveux !” (That story really is far fetched).

The origin is not clear. It seems that the expression appeared in the 16th century. It may be coming from a kind of torture, where you would attached someone’s hair to a horse, and pull until they confess whatever you wanted them to confess. So maybe it’s because when tortured, you would say anything, even not very credible stories ?

The experts don’t seem to be too sure, but anyway, that expression is still very much used today, so if you are watching a bad TV series for example, don’t hesitate to say “Oh, c’est complètement tiré par les cheveux !”

You will sound very French 😉

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 : “Je me reposais tranquillement quand mon voisin est arrivé comme un cheveu sur la soupe” (I was resting quietly when my neighbour turned up unexpectedly)

Or you could use it this way : “Sa remarque est arrivée comme un cheveu sur la soupe” (Her comment was completely irrelevant)
Either way, a hair in the soup is never good 🙂

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 it less strong.

But with time, the meaning changed, and now you use it when you talk about being more moderate.

Ex : “Il est trop têtu, il devrait mettre de l’eau dans son vin” (he is too stubborn, he should tone it down)

As for actually putting water in your wine, it’s not very well considered (at least in my family, where it would be seen as a sacrilege), except if the wine tastes really bad 😉

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 bit of butter make them tastier! (Although my favourite are spinach with crème fraîche)

So if, for example, you take a little job on the side, you can say : “Ce n’est pas grand-chose, mais ça met du beurre dans les épinards” (It’s not a lot, but it puts butter in the spinach / it helps make ends meet)

So bon appétit ! 😄

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 turns out, that “mèche” comes from the italian “mezzo”, which means “background” (milieu in French). So “être de mèche” is to be from the same “milieu”, the same background, originally. Then, with time, the meaning turned into being complicit.

So, if for example, you are organising a surprise party with someone, you can say that the both of you are “de mèche” 🙂