French Word-A-Day

mordre

Today's column is in French and English and is written by Barbara (who tells me, regarding yesterday's story, that the French do have an equivalent expression for "bird bath".... "Une toilette de chat"--"a cat's lick" means to: "se laver d'une façon succinte, au lavabo par exemple," or to wash oneself hastily, at the sink, for example.)

Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France"...a heart-winning collection from an American woman raising two very French children with her French husband in Provence, carrying on a lifelong love affair with the language."

mordre (mohr-druh) verb
1. to bite

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Expressions:
se mordre les lèvres = to bite one's lips
mordre la poussière = to bite the dust
mordre à l'appât = to swallow the bait, to be duped
ne savoir y mordre = "to not know where to bite" to not know where to
begin (to understand something)
mordre à quelque chose = to take to something (to warm to a subject)
se mordre la langue d'avoir parlé = to bite one's tongue for having spoken (to regret)

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Citation du Jour

Les hommes, c'est comme les chiens, ça mord parce que ça a peur.
Men are like dogs. They bite because they are afraid. --Jean Anouilh

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A Closer Look at French Expressions
by Barbara Barles

Bonjour à tous,

Je vous propose de découvrir la 2ème partie des expressions anatomiques françaises. Cette liste n'est pas exhaustive, mais vous permettra déjà d'être calés sur la question !

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Hello everyone,

I invite you to discover part two of expressions having to do with the human body. This list is not exhaustive, but will help you to understand the subject better.

- Avoir deux mains gauches:
"To have two left hands"
= être maladroit (to be clumsy)

- Avoir les dents longues:
"To have long teeth"
=avoir de l'ambition, être prêt à tout pour réussir (to be ambitious, to do anything to succeed)

- Tourner de l'oeil:
"To turn the eye"
= s'évanouir (to pass out)

- S'en mordre les doigts:
"To bite the fingers"
= regretter d'avoir fait ou dit quelque chose (to regret to have done or to have said something)

- Avoir les deux pieds dans le même sabot:
"To have two feet in the same clog"
= être empoté, ne pas se remuer (to be clumsy, to not be able to get a move on things)

- Tourner sa langue sept fois dans sa bouche avant de parler:
"To turn one's tongue seven times in one's mouth before speaking"
= bien réfléchir avant de dire quelque chose (to think twice before saying something)

- Avoir les oreilles qui sifflent:
"To have ears that whistle"
en français, lorsque l'on parle de quelqu'un, on dit qu'il doit avoir les oreilles qui sifflent.
(In French, when we talk about someone, we say that his ears must be whistling.)

- Avoir l'estomac dans les talons:
"To have the stomach in the heels"
= être affamé (to be hungry).

- Taper dans l'oeil:
"To hit the eye"
= Plaire (to be pleasing to the eye).

- Se mettre le doigt dans l'oeil:
"To put the finger in the eye"
= se tromper (to be mistaken)

- Mettre l'eau à la bouche:
"To put water to the mouth"
= donner envie (to make you thirsty for something)

- Ne pas avoir froid aux yeux:
"To not have cold eyes"
= être intrépide, culotté (to be bold, to have nerve)

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Barbara Barles is a legal expert based in Toulon, France. She enjoys trying out new recipes on friends and the pleasing "qualité de vie" in her native Provence.

cuire

Barbara is back with her column "A Look at French Culinary Expressions." Whether you read it in French or in English, ne le ratez pas (don't miss it!)

cuire (kweer) verb
1. to cook

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Expressions:

laisser quelqu'un cuire dans son jus = to let someone stew in their juices = to let them deal with their own problems

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Proverb

Jamais l'affamé ne fait trop cuire son pain.
A starving man never overcooks his bread.

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A Look at French Culinary Expressions

by Barbara Barles

Puisqu'on dit en français que l'appétit vient en mangeant, et que vous semblez avoir bien digéré les expressions de la semaine dernière, en voici encore quelques-unes en plat de résistance:

In English
Since we say in French "the appetite comes while eating," and as you seem to have digested last week's expressions, here are a few more for the main course:

- Avoir la pêche (ou la frite):
"To have the peach" (or the fry, as in potato):
= être en super forme = to be in great form (to be fit as a
fiddle)

- Ne plus avoir un radis:
"To no longer have a radish"
= ne plus avoir un sou = to be out of money

- Etre le dindon de la farce:
"To be the turkey of the stuffing"
être la victime, la dupe, de quelque chose ou de quelqu'un.
= to be the victim, the dupe, of something or someone

-Ne pas mettre tous ses oeufs dans le même panier:
"To not put all one's eggs in the same basket"
ne pas mettre tous ses espoirs dans la même affaire.
= to not put all one's hopes in the same affair.

- Aller se faire cuire un oeuf:
"To go and cook oneself an egg"
= aller se faire voir, se débrouiller tout seul = "to go and be seen,"
to do something oneself

- Avoir les pieds en compote:
To have the feet in compote (stewed fruit)
(when one's feet feel like jelly)
=avoir très mal aux pieds = to have sore feet

- Se prendre une prune:
"To get oneself a plum"
= prendre une amende, une contravention = to get a ticket, a fine

- Avoir des oursins dans les poches:
To have sea urchins in one's pockets
= être près de ses sous = to be close to one's money (to be tight,
cheap)

- Faire la soupe à la grimace:
"To make grimace soup"
= être fâché = to be angry

- Etre couvert comme un oignon:
"To be covered like an onion"
= porter plusieurs épaisseurs de vêtements.
= to wear many thick layers of clothes

- Faire le poireau:
"To do the leek" (to be planted somewhere, like a leek)
= attendre = to wait

- Mettre la main à la pâte:
"To put the hand to the dough"
= participer, aider = to participate, to help out

Bon appétit !! Enjoy your meal!!

Read about this French life, and living in Provence: click on the book cover below:

bouffer

Don't miss today's column "Food-Related French Expressions" for an insight into some charming and useful French sayings. Read it in French and/or English.

bouffer (boo-fay) verb
1. to eat
2. to consume
3. to absorb
4. to puff out

Example
Une bagnole qui bouffe beaucoup d'essence = a car that guzzles gas

Also:
la bouffe = food (informal)
la malbouffe = bad grub, junkfood

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Expressions:
se bouffer le nez = to dispute with someone; to argue
se faire bouffer = to get creamed (defeated, in sports)
se laisser bouffer par son travail = to be swallowed up by one's work
faire bouffer ses cheveux = to add volume/fullness to one's hair
bouffer du curé, du flic... = to be extremely anticlerical, anti-cop

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Citation du Jour:

Le basket, c'est bien; parce que, vu l'état de la bouffe actuellement, je ne vois pas ce qui nous reste d'autre qu'un ballon à mettre dans un panier.

Basketball is good; because, having seen the state of food today, I don't know what's left for us to put into a basket other than a ball. --Laurent Ruquier

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Food Related French Expressions

by Barbara Barles

Tout le monde sait qu'une des préoccupations majeures des français concerne l'alimentation... ou "la bouffe" comme on dit chez nous!

C'est peut-être pour cette raison qu'il existe en français autant d'expressions relatives à la nourriture et à ce qui se mange en général. Je vous en propose ici quelques-unes. D'autres pourront suivre si vous avez encore faim!

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Everyone knows that one of the major preoccupations with the French concerns food.... or "la bouffe" as we say here.

It is perhaps for this reason that there are so many French expressions related to food and to what is eaten in general. I propose a few for you here. Others will follow if you are still hungry!

La moutarde me monte au nez:
"The mustard is getting up my nose"
(= I'm beginning to get angry...)

Tomber dans les pommes: "To fall into the apples" = s'évanouir (to pass out)

Se mêler de ses oignons: "To mind one's own onions"
s'occuper de ses affaires, ne pas se mêler de celles des autres = (to mind one's own business, not to get mixed up in other people's business)

Mi figue-mi raisin: "Half fig-half grape"
Se dit de quelque chose, d'un sentiment mitigé, ambigu, moitié bien, moitié mal. / to speak of mixed, ambiguous feelings, half good, half bad also: wry (smile); a half-humorous, wry remark;

Mettre du beurre dans les épinards:
"To put some butter into one's spinach" = améliorer ses revenus, sa situation / to improve one's financial situation

Donner du lard (ou de la confiture) aux cochons:
"To give fat (or jam) to the pigs" = donner quelque chose à quelqu'un qui ne le mérite pas, qui n'est pas
en mesure de l'apprécier. / To give something to someone who does not deserve it, who is not capable of appreciating it.

Mettre de l'eau dans son vin:
"To put water in one's wine" = se radoucir, se modérer. To moderate oneself

Avoir du pain sur la planche:
"To have bread on the cutting board" avoir beaucoup de travail à faire / to have a lot of work to do

En avoir gros sur la patate:
être triste, avoir du chagrin / to be sad, chagrined

Etre soupe au lait:
"To be milk soup" (the image of soupe boiling over from the addition of milk) = se vexer, s'énerver facilement / to be easily irrited, angered, vexed

Chanter comme une patate:
"To sing like a spud" or "To sing like a potato" (to sing badly)

Read stories about this French life, and living in Provence: click on the book cover below: