{"id":372,"date":"2010-04-21T02:46:30","date_gmt":"2010-04-21T02:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=372"},"modified":"2017-10-19T11:07:42","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T09:07:42","slug":"french-animal-idioms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-animal-idioms\/","title":{"rendered":"The Zoo of French Idioms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, we will enter,\u00a0in a visite guid\u00e9e<\/em>\u00a0sp\u00e9ciale <\/em>(a special guided visit),\u00a0the parc zoologique\u00a0des locutions <\/em>(the zoological park of idioms.)<\/p>\n

Starting with\u00a0le roi de la jungle <\/em>(the king of the jungle), we find the expression “la part du lion<\/strong><\/em>“, which in this case (a rare one)\u00a0can be directly deduced by comparing it to its English equivalent, “the lion’s share.” However, to “have\u00a0eaten lion”, in French “avoir mang\u00e9 du lion<\/em>“, means that\u00a0you’re feeling\u00a0so energetic and\u00a0even combative or aggressive\u00a0that it is as if you\u00a0have eaten a lion, and thus became like one yourself.\u00a0 This expression, of course,\u00a0is never taken\u00a0litt\u00e9ralement <\/em>(literally) in France: You may indeed\u00a0be able to\u00a0find\u00a0des cuisses de grenouille\u00a0<\/em>(frogs’ legs) or des escargots<\/em> in the finest Parisian restaurants, but\u00a0try to order a “lion”, and\u00a0all you may get is a chocolate bar! (Commercials\u00a0in France of “Lion”, the\u00a0chocolate bar brand,\u00a0don’t forget to\u00a0use this expression idiomatique <\/em>to successfully commercialize their sweet-and-nutty\u00a0product.)<\/p>\n

Moving on to other animals, we would say “Passons du coq\u00a0\u00e0 l’\u00e2ne<\/em>“,\u00a0literally “moving from\u00a0the rooster to the donkey”, but in fact simply meaning “jumping from one subject to another.” This expression has often earned\u00a0some journalists and anchors the wrath of\u00a0a few\u00a0politicians and some “susceptibles” <\/em>(touchy)\u00a0<\/em>celebrities whose names would, shall we say,\u00a0“allegorically”\u00a0follow its use. In this way, it can be\u00a0interpreted as a thinly-veiled attack on the targeted person.\u00a0The wiser\u00a0ones would simply prefer to\u00a0say “Sans transition”<\/em>, just like the emblematic pundit of the French TV channel “TF1”, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor (or PPDA), always says,\u00a0whose puppet in the\u00a0French show\u00a0“Les Guignols de l’Info”<\/em> is\u00a0extremely popular in France.<\/p>\n

Le Coq<\/strong> <\/em>is involved in other expressions as well.\u00a0<\/em>It is often regarded as a symbol of the French themselves, as in the logo of the\u00a0F.F.F., or the “F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Fran\u00e7aise de Football<\/em>” (French Federation of Football), or in the name of\u00a0the ‘Made in France’ sports\u00a0brand “Le Coq Sportif”;\u00a0hence maybe the possible\u00a0“French Connection” with\u00a0a perceived\u00a0“cockiness” or arrogance,\u00a0well-known attributes of this proud animal.\u00a0To say “vivre comme un coq en p\u00e2te”<\/em> means\u00a0“<\/em>to live a good\u00a0and easy life”, to live “in the clover”, or as the Italians say, “la dolce vita<\/em>.” Make sure you don’t confuse the two homophones\u00a0coq <\/em>and coque, <\/em>the latter meaning “shell.”\u00a0\u00a0So if\u00a0someone asks you\u00a0if you want to have un\u00a0\u0153uf <\/em>\u00e0 la coque<\/em> for le petit d\u00e9jeuner <\/em>(breakfast), they are not\u00a0asking\u00a0you to have a “rooster egg”, but simply a soft-boiled egg.<\/p>\n

In order to avoid that this\u00a0post ends\u00a0en queue de poisson <\/em>(meaning to fizzle out or “peter out”, but literally “in a fish-tail”) we will resume our ballade\u00a0of le zoo des locutions<\/em>\u00a0on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u00c0<\/em>\u00a0jeudi !<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Today, we will enter,\u00a0in a visite guid\u00e9e\u00a0sp\u00e9ciale (a special guided visit),\u00a0the parc zoologique\u00a0des locutions (the zoological park of idioms.) Starting with\u00a0le roi de la jungle (the king of the jungle), we find the expression “la part du lion“, which in this case (a rare one)\u00a0can be directly deduced by comparing it to its English equivalent…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-372","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t