menthe Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 Isn't this the eternal question for us foreigners in France? All the "funny" French expressions and words that make us laugh or simply fill us with wonder? Sports season everywhere and you can't help but notice what the commentators say. For example, where we say two competitors are "neck and neck", the French say "coude à coude". Recently, I have noticed also that instead of saying "son équipe" or "son entourage" (about tennis players), the current preferred term seems to be "son clan". In my quaint old fashioned way, I only associate "clan" with groups of Scottish people wearing their particular colour and pattern of tartan...oops! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbanana Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 Do t we say clans of monkeys⚡️ The reason that they say coude à coude is because it is there that the rivals batter each other for places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted June 19 Author Share Posted June 19 Wow! I never knew monkeys come in clans! Is that so that they can gobble up HANDS or BUNCHES of bananas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbanana Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 Troops, not clans; there was a football match, or is it footbore! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted June 20 Author Share Posted June 20 Yes, I agree about footbore though I did look at pictures of Mbappe with the dressing on his broken nose. Must be difficult breaking a nose? I thought noses only have cartilage and not bone and so would be harder to break? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 Menthe, well mine feels a though it has bone! I suspect otherwise it would have no shape and not be as rigid as they are. But I didn't study biology longer than I had to, or even anatomy, so who am I to say! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lehaut Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 I am sure many on here have heard this expression long before I did (only a couple of months ago!) "French leave" (in english) "filer a l'anglaise". Although the article I read expanded a bit on the way difference between the two countries in leaving a dinner etc. The English leave without saying goodbye and the French say goodbye without leaving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 Yes, Lehaut, traitor as I am, I use filer à l'anglaise myself! Though I always explain that WE say French leave. So everybody laughs and no harm done. As to leaving, I think it's rather the English who say goodbye and not leave. Or at least, they linger in the garden, at the gates, before getting into their cars, etc. I have been known to say, albeit jokingly, have you no homes to go to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 23 hours ago, Judith said: Menthe, well mine feels a though it has bone! I suspect otherwise it would have no shape and not be as rigid as they are. But I didn't study biology longer than I had to, or even anatomy, so who am I to say! Judith, I do think the nose has no bone because, if you looked at a skull, the place where the nose would have been, is merely a triangular shaped hole. If there was bone, there'd be, well, a nose bone on the skull, won't there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Menthe, I see what you mean. I hadn't thought of that .. but then, how do you get a broken nose? Which is where we came in .. bit of investigation called for perhaps .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveLister Posted June 22 Share Posted June 22 I seem to remember from school that there was at least two bones in the nose and they were connected to the skull with cartilage. The reason why you don't normally see them after death is that they've 'fallen through the hole'. Same with the bones in the ear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted June 22 Share Posted June 22 Makes sense, Dave. Cartilage alone wouln't hold it in shape, and once that goes in death, the bones remains with nothing to hold them in place. . Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajal Posted June 22 Share Posted June 22 I can confirm that the nose (nasal passage) contains both bone and cartilage. As a kid I had difficulty with breathing through my nose and I underwent surgery of partial cartilage removal, the bone scraped and adenoid removal to cure the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted June 22 Author Share Posted June 22 Phew! another of life's mysteries solved🙂 I understand that Mbappe is going to play wearing a sort of nose shield. I don't follow football as a rule but do have a passing interest, if only because you simply can't entirely get away from the ghastly Euros. Having said that I do like to watch Mbappe, he is to football as Dupont is to rugby, in my humble and uninformed opinion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbanana Posted June 22 Share Posted June 22 So, Minteroonie, we now know you like men in face masks; any other accoutrements like leather, tight shorts and animal fur? You must love the Trooping of the Colour.😵💫🤪🤣🤡 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted June 22 Author Share Posted June 22 No, those guardsmen or whatever they are called look like toy soldiers with their silly bearskin headpieces and gold braid on all those red tunics! Shades of the dastardly cad Captain Troy in Far from the Madding Crowd. It's no wonder someone or other will pass out in the hot sun. Anyway is it Britain or Ruritania? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted Saturday at 07:19 Share Posted Saturday at 07:19 The French use a 'capote anglaise' in situations where an Englishman might use a 'French letter' 😈 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted Saturday at 08:41 Author Share Posted Saturday at 08:41 Purely going on the terms used, I can't say either sounds effective! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbanana Posted Saturday at 10:36 Share Posted Saturday at 10:36 filer à l’anglaise: possible origins, L’expression proviendrait de l’ancien verbe "anglaiser", pour "voler". Par la suite, on aurait utilisé "filer à l’anglaise" pour désigner la façon discrète dont part un voleur qui vient de faire son coup. Par analogie, on a aussi vu apparaître l’expression "partir comme un voleur". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted Saturday at 22:29 Share Posted Saturday at 22:29 “Tomber dans les pommes” had me puzzled for a bit, when my French exchange friend once mentioned it in a letter.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted Sunday at 10:27 Author Share Posted Sunday at 10:27 Loiseau, how about "les bras m'en tombent"? Still, we do say our jaws dropped, don't we? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted Monday at 07:25 Share Posted Monday at 07:25 Ha ha! That’s a new one on me, mint! Will have to try it out on someone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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