Tweedpipe

I'm still in the dark with, 'and someone broke sugar cubes on someone’s back'. I certainly have never heard of a French idiomatic phrase that comes anywhere close.
And like BB, sucre les fraises/ to sugar the strawberries, is a classic and usually raises a smile, except when I see someone so afflicted (hand trembling).

BuckinghamshireBoy

My rowdy office lot would on occasion extend "sucrer les fraises" to encompass to "become indecisive", which (depending on one's viewpoint) could be viewed as a bit off.

I omitted to mention yesterday that one day my boss screamed at his PC screen "What??? That must be a term in English! BB, come check my spelling please?" Which I did, and almost crawled from his desk doubled with laughter.

"Do you English not say that?"

"Not currently, but I'll do my best to get it into their vocabulary".

He had emailed his boss enthusing upon a certain idea, and had described it as "cowly good"

This 'English' term has now found its way into common parlance. at least among among my Anglophone set.

cyrian

dmu

Those of you who aren't aware of this faux ami should know that:

French "isolation" is English "insulation"
English "isolation" is French "isolement"

Tweedpipe

DMU reminds me that some of these faux amis can be deadly embarrasing if used incorrectly.
Some time ago whilst living close to a Paris airport, a friend asked me where we should go for a drink, and perhaps a bite to eat. I used to enjoy visiting a small antique store in the Bourse 2eme district, and often went into a very popular bistro (brasserie) there. Wishing to practise my fairly basic, shaky French, and being a little too adventurous - perhaps wanting to show off a bit, instead of pointing and saying, "How about over there?" I said, "Je prends souvent un verre dans ce brassiere la-bas! The young lady immediately burst out laughing, and I then knew I'd made a major faux-pas.
What I'd actually said was, (you've probably guessed it), "I often have a drink in that bra over there!"
I was in my mid 20's at the time and in her company, flimsy lingerie may have been on my mind, but I've since learnt that it's a brasserie (not a brassiere) that's either a brewery or a bar that serves meals.
And no, I can't recall what size 'cups' I drank from!

spouse of scouse

You, in turn, have reminded me of attempting to order a pernod in Paris. The waiter looked down his nose at me and said in English 'Madam, we do not sell such movies in this establishment'. Sarcastic bugger, put me right off Parisians.

dmu

I'm tucking this in the Useful French Phrases section, as I'm ashamed of my ignorance.
What does LBCOT mean at the end of a message? (noticed on another forum).

BuckinghamshireBoy

Let's Be Careful Out There would be my take.

Hill St Blues popularised the phrase, but not the acronym.

dmu

Thanks for that!
I've never heard of Hill St Blues - if it was broadcast on French TV, it must have been under a completely different title...

BuckinghamshireBoy

Je me suis trompé.

Hill St Blues was the fore-runner, it then became NYPD Blue which was broadcast en francais as New York Police D'Etat.

I'm a bit of a fan, so it didn't take too long to pull this from the shelf.



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dmu

Didn't watch this either, mainly because it was dubbed in French at the time it was shown on French TV. But there might be replays in v.o. nowadays - if so, I'll listen out for it....
LBCOT!!

BuckinghamshireBoy

"Soupe au lait."

There seems to be quite a lot of it around, almost as if some have been hoarding.

Tweedpipe

This took a few moments for the penny to drop. In fact I don't believe it's a common expression as I've certainly never heard it said in public. From what I recall it's more of a familiar, affectionate way of saying that one is 'hot-headed' but rarely said with malice. But yes, with tongue-in-cheek one could be described as hot-headed buying and hoarding 'soupe au lait' especially during these difficult times.

BuckinghamshireBoy

Interesting that it's not that commonplace.

I first heard it in an office situation in Geneva, had not encountered it previously, and my then boss (Parisien) told me that as a Brit I should best take it as "being on a short fuse".

We had worked alongside each other in London for a couple of years prior to that, so he had a pretty good ear for BritSpeak.

dmu

OH never used the expression - I had to find out what it means, and its origin. I always thought it meant the opposite, e.g. a wishy-washy introvert, so I'm glad I've never used it!!
Another translation to be wary of::
"Hope" ="espoir ", but = "espérance" in the sense of expectancy/expectation. e.g. Cape of Good Hope isn't Cap de Bon Espoir. as proposed by a machine translation, but de Bonne Espérance!!