Funny French idioms.

30 Mar 2014

Anger

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Péter les plombs	to blow one’s top	Bust the fuses (Here the word “plombs” refers to the fuses that melt in order to avoid short-circuit)
Sortir de ses gonds	to fly off the handle	(The image of a door that come off its hinges)
Se fâcher tout rouge	to go up the wall	to be upset all red
J’ai la moutarde qui me monte au nez	I’m beginning to lose my temper	Mustard is winding up in my nose.
Prendre la mouche	to fly off the handle	Take a fly (This expression is close to “quelle mouche vous a piqué ?/What’s with you?”) The idea is that a person’s sudden outburst is the result of having being stung by an insect.
Avoir les nerfs en pelote	To be on the edge, to be nervy	Got my nerves in a ball (like ball of wool)

Criticizing

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Casser du sucre sur le dos de quelqu’un	To bad-mouth someone	Break sugar on the back of someone
Tailler un costard à quelqu’un	To slag someone off	Cut a suit for someone (The idea here is that once you have a bad reputation it’s difficult to lose it. In the same way that a suit cannot be altered once it has been cut to a certain shape)

Annoyance

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Casser les pieds de quelqu’un	to do someone’s head in	Break the feet of someone.

Getting along (or not)

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
S’entendre comme larrons en foire	to be as thick as thieves	agreeing as thieves in a fair.
Être comme cul et chemise	to be inseparable	Be like ass and shirt (more for a friendship than a love).
Être comme les doigts de la main	to be very close	Be like fingers of the hand.
Il me sort par les trous de nez	I can’t stand the sight of him	He is getting out of my nostrils.
Entre eux le torchon brule	They’re at loggerheads	The rag is burning between them.

Love

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Avoir le coup de foudre	To fall in love at first sight	to be stuck by lightning.
Être un bourreau des coeurs	to be a ladykiller	Being a executioner of hearts.
Avoir un coeur d’artichaut	to be a fickle (in love)	To have a artichoke heart (A leaf for everyone).
Avoir quelqu’un dans la peau	to be crazy about someone	having someone in the skin.
Être mordu	to be madly in love	to be beaten.
En pincer pour quelqu’un	to be crazy about someone	To pinch for someone.

Truth and lies

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Mentir comme un arracheur de dents	to be a compulsive liar	Lie as a teeth puller (no anaesthetic but don’t worry you will not feel pain).
Raconter des salades	to tell fibs	Tell salads.
Faire avaler des couleuvres	to take someone in	Make somebody swallow grass-snake.
Une histoire à dormir debout	A cock and bull story	A story that make you sleep while standing up.
Se mettre sur son 31	to get all dressed up	To get on his/her 31 (31 as December 31th).
Être tiré à 4 épingles	to be dressed up to the nines	To be stretch by 4 pins (4 pins to stretch a piece of fabric and eliminate creases).
Être joli comme un coeur	to be pretty as a picture	Be pretty as an heart.

Fear and worry

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Serrer les fesses	To have the wind up	Tighten the buttocks.
Avoir une peur bleue	To be scared to death	Having blue fear.

Directness

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Ne pas y aller par 4 chemins	To go straight to the point	Don’t go by 4 different tracks.
Ne pas y aller avec le dos de la cuillère	Not to go for half-measures	Not to dish things out using the back of a spoon.

Speaking and keeping silent

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Tenir la jambe à quelqu’un	To bore someone with one’s talk	Hold the leg of someone (picture someone who wants to go away).
Souler quelqu’un	to bore someone silly	Make someone drunk.
Ne pas avoir sa langue dans sa poche	Never to be at a loss for words	Don’t have his tongue in his pocket.

Surprise

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Couper le sifflet à quelqu’un	To shut someone up	Cut the whistle of somebody.

Happiness

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Être au anges	To be walking on air	Be with the angels.

Sadness

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Avoir le cafard	To feel down	To have the cockroach.
Être malheureux comme les pierres	To be utterly miserable	Be as sad as a rock.
Rire comme un bossu/une baleine	to laugh one’s head off	It is believed that “rire comme une baleine” (to laugh like a whale) might have derived from “se tordre comme une baleine de parapluie retourné”. Playing on the words “se tordre”, which means both “to bend” and ‘to laugh’ (in colloquial language) and “baleine” which of course means “whale” but which also means the rib of an umbrella.

Madness

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Il ne tourne pas rond	he’s not all there	he is not turning around.
Être timbré	to be cracked	To be stamped.
Être tombé sur la tête	To have a screw loose	Have fallen on head.
Être marteau	To be nuts	Be a hammer.

Stupidity

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Il n’a pas inventé l’eau chaude	He’ll never set the Thames on fire	He didn’t invented warm water.
Être bête à manger du foin	To be as thick as two shorts planks	Be stupid enough to eat hay.
Être bête comme ses pieds	To be unbelievably stupid	Be as stupid as his own feet.
Avoir une case de vide	To have a screw loose	Have an empty shake.
Il est un peu bas de plafond	He’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer	His ceiling is quite low.

Hunger and eating

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Avoir les crocs	To be famished	Got the fangs.

Drinking

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Boire comme un trou	To drink like a fish	Drink like a hole.
Avoir la gueule de bois	To be hangover	Having a wooden face.
Avoir du vent dans les voiles	To be three sheets in the wind	Having wind in the sails. This expression likens the teetering drunkard to a ship that is buffeted by the wind.
Lever le coude	To booze	Lift the elbow.
S’en jeter un derrière la cravate	To knock back a drink	To throw one behind the tie.

Doing things easily

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Ce n’est pas la mer à boire	It’s no big deal	It’s not the sea to drink.
Faire quelque chose les doigts dans le nez	To do something very easily	Do something with fingers in the nose.
Ce n’est pas le bout du monde	It’s no big deal	It’s not the end of the world.

Leaving

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Prendre ses jambes à son cou	to take one’s heels	take his legs to his neck.
Mettre les voiles	To skedaddle	To set up the sails.
Se faire la malle	To clear off	To make the trunk (big suitcase).

Work and effort

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Être un bourreau de travail	being a workaholic	to be an work executioner.
Faire des pieds et des mains pour faire quelque chose	to move heaven and earth to do something	Move feet and hands to do something.
Avoir un poil dans la main	to be workshy	Having an hair in the hand.

Success

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Marcher comme sur des roulettes	to be going very smoothly	work on roulette (little wheels).

Inferiority

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Ses rivaux ne lui arrivent pas à la cheville	non of his rivals can touch him	his rivals doesn’t even height match his anckles.
ça ne vaut pas un clou	it’s not worth a bean	it doesn’t worth a nail.

Authority and obediance

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Mener quelqu’un à la baguette	to rule someone with a rod of iron	lead someone with a stick.

Enjoying oneself

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
S’en payer une tranche	to have a whale of a time	to pay one’s slice.
s’éclater comme une bête	to have a wild time	to bust like a beast.

Money

French expression	English expression	Literal translation
Couter la peau des fesses	To cost an arm and a leg	To cost skin of butt.
Jeter l’argent par les fenêtres	To throw money down the drain	To throw money through the windows.
Être plein aux as	To be rolling it	To be full to aces.
Être payé au lance-pierre	To be paid peanuts	To be paid by slingshot.