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The English have arrived


Hoddy

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Yesterday at a party, a slightly belligerent drunk reminded me that the French expression for a woman starting to menstruate was, “The English have arrived.’

This set me thinking. Do people really still say this or is a bit like the English ‘French letters’ which most people know, but never use ? Are there many expressions of this kind still in use ?

Hoddy
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There's 2 expressions sort of related to that which I have heard.  One from years ago when I worked with a completely bilingual lady.  At  the end of a long day she would sometimes say 'Johnny Marr is calling'  She would not tell me for ages that she actually was 'adapting'    J'en ai marre.  My current French colleagues think this very clever.

A recent one was when I  was working intently and a French colleague wanted to ask me a question but so as not to interrupt me, came up behind me very quietly, suddenly aware of her, I was startled and said 'where did you come from?' She said  'he-he, steak haché' which apparently is said instead of 'J'ai caché'

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[quote user="Chancer"]Manger à juif, what I am doing right now.

Cant work out why people seem to think its a sad thing to do, it beats starving!!![/quote]

I think there might be a misunderstanding here.

The expression "manger en juif" is used by some to characterise someone who is behaving (not necessarily eating) in an avaricious or greedy manner.

The same characterisation is made about people from Scotland as people who do not spend an unnecessary penny (ils sont avares, ces Ecossais!) or from Normandy, as people who guard their money and eye everyone with mistrust (il est bien Normand! Il prêt de ses sous!), yet the Jewish slant makes it much, much worse...

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[quote user="Hoddy"]Yesterday at a party, a slightly belligerent drunk reminded me that the French expression for a woman starting to menstruate was, “The English have arrived.’

This set me thinking. Do people really still say this or is a bit like the English ‘French letters’ which most people know, but never use ? Are there many expressions of this kind still in use ?

Hoddy[/quote]

I know the expression "Les Anglais sont arrivés" but haven't heard it for many, many years...

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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Chancer"][/quote]

I think there might be a misunderstanding here.
The expression "manger en juif" is used by some to characterise someone who is behaving (not necessarily eating) in an avaricious or greedy manner.

[/quote]

It was said by my ex, misunderstanding would be the word to sum up our relationship, she dropped by one day when I was eating, alone as always, she said tu manges en (thought it was à) juif, when I asked her to explain she said it was because i was eating alone, as if I didnt want to share my food perhaps.

I was a much more portly Chancer in those days so maybe I reminded her of a cochon at the trough and she wanted to say "OI! you fat b******d!" but was too polite.

What is amusing is that now I am a svelt athletic Chancer I get through a huge volume of food and the overloaded plate I had in front of me when I wrote the above would definitely have qualified for manger en juif, at least I can add the phrase to my vocabulary now [:)]

My behaviour, apart from my food intake, which is commensurate with the work and training that I do could never be described as avaricious or greedy [:D]

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