words you don’t learn in evening class

Just randomly, as they pop into my head

            

• se remonter les bretelles. Literally to “pull up your braces” (trouser braces). In other words to pull your socks up
• grimper les rideaux. Literally to “climb up the curtains”, in other words to swing from the lampshades.
• je surf sur la vague.  Literally to “surf on the wave”, in other words to go with the flow.
• je suis le sens du vent.  Literally “I follow the direction of the wind” – same as above.
• on ne va pas se mettre la rate au court bouillon. Literally “we won’t put the spleen in the stew”. In other words we won’t make a song and dance over it.
• ca me casse la tête. Literally “it breaks my head”. In other words, it does my head in.
• je ne suis pas très sucre. Literally “I am not very sugar”. We’d say “I haven’t got a sweet tooth”.
• rire aux éclats. To “laugh to the bursts”. In English “to roar with laughter”.
• j’ai d’autre chats a fouetter. Horrid – it means “I have other cats to whip”. We have bigger fish to fry.
• s’occuper de ses oignons.  To look after your own onions.  For English speakers it becomes to mind your own business.
• avoir le coup de foudre.  This means to “have the hit of thunder”, which in English is love at first sight.
• être dépaysé – to be de-countrified.  This can mean homesick, but it can also mean a fish out of water.
• le bricolage – DIY.  I think all Brits in France know that word. “Je fais de bricolage” means I am doing a bit of DIY.
• avoir l’ésprit d’escalier.  To have the staircase spirit. Work that one out !  It means to wish you had said or done this or that after it is too late.

There’s probably little point in learning these, but at least you’ll know what they mean when you hear them.

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