Beryl Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Can you please help me ?I am finding it hard to understand how a series of words, that individually I understand, can suddenly take on a new meaning if phrased together.For example - How can 'casse -pieds' mean boring?Please give me some other examples (and not just slang ones) to save me reaching for my dictionary all the time.[:(]Thank you very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Because it means "il nous casse les pieds", so he becomes a casse pieds, if you translate, it's a foot breaker, but don't know the origin of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Casse-pied meaning foot breaker means not only that a person is very boring but can also mean a very demanding person as in 'Les enfants vous me cassez les pieds!!' when for the Nth time your kids are asking you for something YET again!...Your feet are broken... what happens?... you can't stand up anymore so you fall down... therefore can't be up to the task demanded - that of pleasing the stroppy teenager or to have an adequate response to the bore... well that's my explanation....Other expressions ...'Tu es à coté de tes baskets' (baskets in France are sport shoes, the type of American baseball shoes) means that you are out of sort, not with it,... walking beside your shoes literally....'Tu nous barbes' Not the man's beard but meaning that the person you are saying it to is a pain in the proverbial... This expression is always said with a hand gesture. It sort of looks like a back and forth sort of caressing of the under side of the chin with the upper side of the hand (palm of hand looking down)'tu te fends la gueule' meaning that you are having a real Hoooraff!! a real belly laugh bringing you to tears. Literally spliting your head in half.'tu te prends le pied' meaning that you are having a fantastic time. Literally you are taking your foot... 'tu as la pêche' meaning that you are in a good amiable mood, kind of happy go lucky, happy with yourself. It is an expression that someone will say of you not something that you can say of yourself.Literally that you have a peach... Anymore... can't think...'Je sèche!' I am drying! A student will say that when he/she has no more ideas for his/her essays/homework... the brain will have dried out of all ideas!.... It has actually moved on to mean that they will miss their lectures or classes : je sèche mes cours!... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimportequoi Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Here are a few more idiomatic phrases - I uses tu me casses les pieds for being annoyed with someone rather than calling them boring, too. There are so many of them, it is impossible to learn them all and they do go out of fashion, like the English ones (who says it's raining cats and dogs anymore?)call a spade a spadeappeler un chat un chatcount your chickens before they hatchvendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tuéhave a frog in one's throatavoir un chat dans la gorgehave a hangoveravoir la gueule de boisit costs an arm and a legça coûte les yeux de la têteit’s a piece of cakec’est du gâteauit’s six of one and half a dozen of the otherc’est bonnet blanc et blanc bonnetits the straw that broke the camel’s backla goutte d’eau qui a fait déborder le vaseto be as thick as two short planksêtre bête comme ses piedsto be at the end of your tetheretre au bout du rouleauto be down in the dumpsavoir le cafardto be over the moonêtre aux angesto hang aboutfaire le poireauto have guts (balls*)avoir quelque chose dans le ventreto nit-pickchercher la petite bêteto pull someone’s legfaire marcher quelqu’unto stand someone upposer un lapin à quelqu’unEntre le chien et le louptwilightwhen pigs flyquand les poules auront des dentswrite a rubber cheque, bounce a chequefaire un cheque en bois Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl Posted June 22, 2006 Author Share Posted June 22, 2006 Thanks for all these phrases. Some will certainly come in useful .I have heard so many phrases slang and otherwise, where I have tried to translate them literally and ended up very confused.All good fun eh?[:$] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Ouais ! [8-|] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 Difficult spellings Frenchâge Englishagelittératureliteratureautoritéauthoritysoldatsoldiervinaigrevinegar confortcomfortbagagebaggage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 False friends Frenchbaskets Englishtrainerscatchwrestlingslipunderpants/briefsstophitchhikingsnobfollower of fashionfootfootballgolfgolf coursespotspotlight; advertisementsnacksnack bargoalgoalkeeperpullpullover, sweater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 More false friendspainbreadflipperpinball machinelocationrental, hirechatcatchairflesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 Tricky translationsFrench meaningactuellementat present, currently, nowadayscarcoach, bus; vancavecellar, basement; nightclubchefboss, chief, leaderdéceptiondisappointment; disenchantmentdemanderto ask, to request; to requireéventuellementpossiblygénial(e)inspired, fantastic, brilliantjournéedaylecturereading; reading matterlibrairiebookshop; the book tradepruneplumraisingrapesympathiserto get on well, hit it offvestejacket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 French extra meaningagenda+diarycabinet+toilet; study; consulting room, surgerychauffeur+driver in general circulation+trafficdécade+period of ten daysdramatique+tragicéditer+to publishfigure+faceherbe+grassmanifester+to demonstrate, to protestmassif/ve+solid, robustparfum+flavour, aromaporc+pig; pig skinradio+x-rayroute+roadsensible+sensitivesouvenir+memory, recollectionsympathique+likeable, pleasant, friendly; attractive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Gosh Cathy! Do you read the dictionary on a Friday night?...I thought of other an other expression for Beryl to translate literallyJe suis fauché comme les blés... Je vais faire un autre cran à la ceinture...J'ai pas un rond...J'ai plus de radis... These all mean that you have NO money to spend... To be correct the last 2 should be 'je n'ai pas' and 'je n'ai plus' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 Not quite the same but topical perhaps. Each team in the Tour de France has a designated leader(s) and perhaps a specialist sprinter or mountain climber while the remainder of the team are usually referred to in the English speaking world as 'domestiques' (who work to look after the interests of their leader(s), fetching water bottles from the team car, working at the front of the peloton to bring back a breakaway, etc.) However, the French term for these riders is 'porteurs d'eau'??Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 I seem to remember some time ago that Gerard Depardieu was wrongly accused in the American press of having taken part in a rape at a very early age when in actual fact he had admitted to having witnessed such an event. The verb in question he used was 'assister à' / to witness. I believe he is very careful now that his words are properly translated.Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 I may be wrong but I thought "assister" did also mean to participatein/be present at/attend - eg sporting events/fetes etc? Butcertainly there's a fairly distinct difference there for DepardieuLou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Makes you wonder what he was doing - I mean, rape's not normally a spectator sport. So he said he wasn't helping, he was just watching? I don't know this story - how did it turn out? Obviously he was a kid at the time, but what were the circs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MargaretD Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 One of the phrases I sometimes here is "les grandes lignes", my mind always goes straight from Paris to Lyon by train, and then I remember (having lost the plot totally) that it is an outlien plan, the broad outline...because the next thing is the person with "les grandes lignes" decides to "je vais me jeter a l'eau" which would be great in the summer into a pool, but he really means that he's decided that he'll take the risk, that he's made his mind up and hamade a decision.M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 [quote user="MargaretD"]because the next thing is the person with "les grandes lignes" decides to "je vais me jeter a l'eau" which would be great in the summer into a pool, but he really means that he's decided that he'll take the risk, that he's made his mind up and hamade a decision.[/quote]Just like taking the plunge in English! Another one that translates well is 'mettre quelque chose (ou quelqu'un) aux pieds', to put someone or something back on their feet. I may have misheard this so forgive me if I'm not spot on.Bit of a two-tone thread, now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 I hold no brief for Gerard Depardieu but I understand that he was 12 years old at the time. The Larousse definition of assister is 'to assist or to aid' whereas 'assister à' is 'to witness or to be a witness to' a quite different meaning but easily misunderstood. The article appeared in Time magazine some time in the late 1980s.Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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