Day 2560 (Tuesday) 11th June 2024

I was quite wrong yesterday when I said summer has started, it was quite cloudy again this morning. We were planning on going to Antibes but it’s still a bit cold on the scooter so we went to Nice instead. Huw found an English book shop in Nice not far from the Marriott where I used to work, so we headed there.

It was wonderful, a tiny shop full of second-hand books all in English and each book was just 3€ - I bought four.

The staff were really lovely and spoke very good English – what a find.

We went down to the Promenade des Anglais and enjoyed the sunshine, it has warmed up considerably

These are the private beaches…

…and this is the one of the public beaches. You see what I mean that Nice’s beaches are long enough to have private beaches, but Villefranche isn’t.

We went back to the old town to buy some lunch and went to the Old Port to enjoy the views and sunshine.

Who would call a pointu Gary?

I found a website about French idioms, it’s quite long so I’ll post it over a few days.

101 Funny French Idioms Explained in English

aller se faire cuire un œuf – to go jump in the lake
Literal Translation: to go and cook yourself an egg

appeler un chat un chat – to call a spade a spade
Literal Translation: to call a cat a cat
You'll notice several French idioms mentioning cats. In 2017, Statista estimated that there were over 13.5 million cats in France. 29% of all French households own a cat.

apprendre à un vieux singe à faire des grimaces – to teach an old dog new tricks (US), to teach granny to suck eggs (UK)
Literal Translation: to teach an old monkey to make funny faces
The English side of this idiom may seem a bit odd but at one point in history it was quite commonplace to make a small hole in an egg and suck out its contents.

arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe – to arrive at the worst possible moment
Literal Translation: to arrive like a hair in the soup

avoir d’autres chats à fouetter – to have bigger fish to fry
Literal Translation: to have further cats to whip

avoir le cafard – to be in the doldrums
Literal Translation: to have the cockroach

avoir des casseroles au cul – to be plagued by scandals
Literal Translation: to have pans attached to one's ass
This idiom is often used to describe unscrupulous politicians in France.

avoir la chair de poule – to have goosebumps
Literal Translation: to have chicken flesh

avoir un chat dans la gorge – to have a frog in your throat
Literal Translation: to have a cat in your throat

avoir le cœur sur la main – to be big-hearted
Literal Translation: to have the heart on the hand

avoir un coup de foudre – to feel love at first sight
Literal Translation: to be hit by lightning

avoir deux mains gauches – to be all thumbs
Literal Translation: to have two left hands

avoir la gueule de bois – to have a hangover
Literal Translation: to have a wooden mug

avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez – to lose your temper (US), to lose your rag (UK)
Literal Translation: to have the mustard climbing up to the nose
A strong Dijon mustard gives you a stinging sensation in your nose. In English, this idiom alludes that sensation when you become angry.

avoir du pain sur la planche – to have a lot on your plate
Literal Translation: to have bread on the board

avoir la pêche / la patate / la frite – to feel great (US), to be full of beans (UK)
Literal Translation: to have the peach / potato / french fry
If you are feeling full of energy you might use this idiom to say J'ai la pêche !

avoir un poil dans la main – to be bone-lazy
Literal Translation: to have a hair in the hand

avoir la tête dans le pâté/le cul – to feel groggy
Literal Translation: to have one’s head/arse in the pâté

avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre – to bite off more than you can chew
Literal Translation: to have eyes bigger than your stomach

battre le fer tant qu’il est chaud – to strike while the iron is hot
Literal Translation: to strike the iron while it is hot

boire comme un trou – to drink like a fish
Literal Translation: to drink like a hole

casser les pieds à quelqu’un – to drive somebody nuts
Literal Translation: to break somebody’s feet

casser du sucre sur le dos de quelqu’un – to badmouth somebody behind their back
Literal Translation: to break sugar on somebody’s back

changer de crèmerie – to take one’s custom elsewhere
Literal Translation: to go to another dairy shop

chat échaudé craint l'eau froide – once bitten, twice shy
Literal Translation: a burned cat is afraid of cold water

chercher midi à quartorze heures – to make things over-complicated
Literal Translation: to look for midday at fourteen hours (i.e. 2pm)

chercher la petite bête – to split hairs
Literal Translation: to look for the bug

courir sur le haricot de quelqu’un – to get on somebody’s nerves
Literal Translation: to run on somebody’s bean

coûter les yeux de la tête – to cost an arm and a leg
Literal Translation: to cost the eyes of your head

les doigts dans le nez – to accomplish something easily
Literal Translation: fingers in the nose
In English, you wouldn't expect a task to be facilitated by having your fingers in the nose. But for the French, this idiom could be used to say you passed and exam with ease, J'ai réussi l'examen, les doigts dans le nez.

donner de la confiture aux cochons – to cast pearls before swine
Literal Translation: to give marmalade to the pigs

donner sa langue au chat – to give up on guessing
Literal Translation: to give one's tongue to the cat
This French idiom could be used when playing a trivia game. If your opponent runs out of time you could ask, Tu donnes ta langue au chat ? which means Do you give up?

en avoir gros sur le cœur/la patate – to be heavy-hearted
Literal Translation: to have a big one on the heart/the potato

en avoir ras-le-bol – to be fed up to the back teeth
Literal Translation: to have it very close to the edge of the bowl
This French idiom could be used if you are stressed out at work. J'en ai ras-le-bol ! is a way of saying I've had it!

en faire tout un fromage/plat – to make a mountain out of a molehill
Literal Translation: to make a whole cheese/dish with it

enfoncer une porte ouverte – to whip a dead horse
Literal Translation: to push an open door

engueuler quelqu'un comme du poisson pourri – to give somebody a earful (US), to give somebody a rollicking (UK)
Literal Translation: to tell somebody off as if they were a rotten fish

entrer quelque part comme dans un moulin – to waltz in somewhere as you please
Literal Translation: to go inside a place as inside a mill

être le dindon de la farce – to be the butt of the joke
Literal Translation: to be the turkey of stuffing

être au four et au moulin – to wear too many hats
Literal Translation: to be at the oven and the mill at the same time