Watching paint dry

[Nickel]

Is there an equivalent phrase in French for - it was like watching paint dry or - I'd rather watch paint dry.... or would a literal translation convey the same sentiment.

Thanks 

 

[Kitty]

Had a look in my book of idioms and phrases but no can do, Nickel.  Hope someone answers as I would be interested as well.

[Kim]

Oh, I'm glad you asked this.  My kids are always asking at the end of dinner "What are we going to do tonight?" They're hoping we're going to say watch TV, but one of us says "Watch the paint dry" and than the other "Watch the grass grow" and sometimes we go on from there.  Now I have a topic for the dinner table.  I bet my bilingual teenagers will have something for us.

Kim

[gosub]

edited

[Nickel]

Having just spent the evening with neighbours - they have come up with :

Je préférerais peigner la girafe... i.e to waste time on a pointless task. Watching paint dry, although they understood the meaning has no equivalent in French ( apparently) 

 

[Kim]

Well that makes me feel better.  My sons couldn't come up with anything that was fit to print!  Combing a giraffe, that's a good image!

[Kim]

I just read this expression in a cookbook and thought maybe one could use it to convey the watching paint dry notion:

Je préfere manger des pissenlits par la racine que de faire whatever.

It means I'd rather eat dandelion roots than do whatever.  Basically saying you'd rather be dead.  Not quite the same as watching paint dry, but I thought it was clever.