pigeon?

[Doodle]

What does the french expression 'pigeon' actually mean. I was trying to explain to a french lady that someone had been 'taken for a ride' to which she drew a finger across her forehead and said the phrase was 'je ne suis pas un pigeon' or at least I think that's what she said.

Could someone enlighten me please.

Thanks, Mrs KG

[Chancer]

It means to be an idiot but more so a willing (idiot) victim, saying je ne suis pas un pigeon is like saying "I wasn't born yesterday" or the old fashioned "I didnt just come on the banana boat".

 

I once asked why a pigeon and was told they are dumb creatures, you put down some grain and they will willingly come forward to be killed.

 

You could have said "on m'a pris pur un pigeon" or "on m'a pris pour un(e) Americain(e)" if you had been ripped off by someone thinking that you would not know any better.

[Doodle]

Thanks Chancer that makes a great deal of sense of that conversation.

Mrs KG

[Doodle]

Thanks Chancer that now makes sense of that conversation.

Mrs KG

edit sorry for the double entry - not sure what I did/didn't do!!

[alittlebitfrench]

She is basically saying.... 'Is it written pigeon across my forehead ?'.

Meaning...

'Do you/they really think I am that stupid'

...to fall for that....ect.

[Loiseau]

I have also heard "se faire pigeonner", similarly in the sense of being taken for a ride.

It reminds me of "se faire poser un lapin", to be stood up.

Angela

[ericd]

Je me suis fais avoir - Je me suis fais entuber (all mean the same, I have been taken for a ride)

[Al Rogers]

I seem to remember "pigeon" being used in American slang to mean a sucker or easy mark. May have been in old gangster movies or Damon Runyon tales.

[Patf]

Stool pigeon , or stooly.

Eric - your first one is similar to the english expression I've been had, or ever been had?

It's a bit hard on pigeons though - there's a whole room devoted to them at Bletchley Park, some of them gave their lives for their country in WW2 (carrying coded messages.)

[ericd]

[quote user="Patf"] .... some of them gave their lives for their country in WW2 [/quote]

They didn't know that and would do the same again today...

[Al Rogers]

[quote user="Patf"]Stool pigeon , or stooly.

Eric - your first one is similar to the english expression I've been had, or ever been had?

It's a bit hard on pigeons though - there's a whole room devoted to them at Bletchley Park, some of them gave their lives for their country in WW2 (carrying coded messages.)

[/quote]

Indeed. But the word "pigeon" on its own fits well with its French equivalent, whereas "stool pigeon" means a snitch. What a wonderfully multi-purpose role those birds fulfil.

[mint]

Actually, it's not the stool pigeon that is the problem so much as the pigeon's stool[I]

In our village, every autumn, as the days are drawing in, they have a cull of the pigeons around the church.  Every household gets a notice to name the exact evening when the cull is going to take place and people are advised to stay indoors.

I'm not sure what they use to kill the pigeons but, by next morning, when you go past the church to the boulangerie, there is nary a sign of the cull, certainly no carcasses and not so much as a feather.