To ask what your favourite French words and expressions are?

[WellAlwaysHaveParis]

Very random AIBU, but I’d be interested to find out: what are your favourite French words and expressions? :)

I’m restarting a weekly post on French expressions for my blog on French language and culture, and I’ve run out of inspiration

Shameless plug alert.... if you’d like to know more about the blog or if you or anyone you know might like to contribute to it, please let me know on here or via private message :)

and are all up for grabs as prizes for the best words

@WellAlwaysHaveParis Here's one for this week:
Se faire poissonnier la veille de Pâques
www.expressio.fr/expressions/se-faire-poissonnier-la-veille-de-paques.php

J’ai autres chats a fouetter

I have other fish to fry

Always a favourite of mine

Le singe eat dans l'arbre

After learning it at school forty years ago, I was finally able to use it this year in the monkey forest in France

@finneganscake - just noticed you have my favourite “autres chats” too 😊. That pleases me that someone else enjoys it as much as I do!

Within the immediate family we use “sanglier” as an affectionate insult. (Wild boar).

J’ai les dents du fond qui baignent (when you have eaten too much)
Chatouiller (tickle). This is just a highly good word
Jeter un coup d’oeil (to cast an eye over something)

And I love this phrase
De battre mon cœur s’est arrêté
Also
J’ai besoin de tes yeux, c’est le miroir où j’existe, sans eux je ne me vois pas

Et voila ! Stupidly simple and nothing clever as such but I just love how you can use it in so many ways

Love the word penible. It means annoying but like really bloody annoying.

pantalon patte d'éléphant - flared trousers I've always like that one.

My daughter went on a school French trip last year and was given a list of “French “ phrases.
I speak reasonably good French and have a couple of French friends and we were pretty baffled by most of them
Our favourite was “ ce n’est pas Peru” - meant to mean it’s ok but not great. None of us had ever heard of it but it’s become a favourite in our house.

Bof! DH says this a lot. It seeks to suit a lot of situations.

I like to say "c'est chouette" (it's great!) because we all learned it at school but I've never heard a single French person say it!

Not an expression as such, but a favourite phrase learnt from some French friends whilst studying in France a long time ago: Va te faire enculer un peu, roi des cons.

Sorry to bring the tone down.

I like Je ne mâche pas mes mots.

Same as not mincing one's words in English but I think it's chewing words in French.

Also revenons a nos moutons... ie back to the matter in hand, but directly translated as let's get back to our sheep.

C'est vrai!

tu et mon petit choux fleur my ex used to say this made me laugh every time

J'ai la taupe au guichet (there's a mole at my counter) = I'm touching cloth. With apologies for lowering the tone

“Also revenons a nos moutons... ie back to the matter in hand, but directly translated as let's get back to our sheep.”

Excellent

Reminds me of “occupe-toi de tes oignons” which means “mind your own business” or literally “look after your onions”

My French colleague always starts her mails with 'coucou', which for some reason I find hugely irritating.

^^

Imagine a French MIL who does this....

Yep

Quelle surprise

C'est la fin des haricots=it's the end of the beans (there is absolutely nothing left)
Con comme un balai=stupid like a broom (very stupid)
La nuit tous les chats sont gris=at night all the cats are grey (everything looks alike at night)
Avoir une araignée au plafond=to have a spider on the ceiling (being crazy)
Ne pas avoir la lumière a à tous les étages=not having light on all floors (being crazy)
Noel au balcon, Pâques au tison= Christmas on the balcony, Easter by the fire (weather related saying)
En avril ne te decouvre pas d'un fil, en mai fait ce qu'il te plaît=in April don't remove a piece of string, in May do as you please (clothing/weather related)
L'Homme est un loup pour l'Homme=mankind is a wolf for mankind
Les chiens ne font pas des chats= dogs don't birth cats (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree
Il n'y a pas de fumée sans feu=no smoke without fire
Donner des perles aux pourceaux=to give pearls to pigs (wasting something precious)

Chair de poule

Coucou is used all the time!! I start my texts with it as do all my French friends; often abbreviated to Cc.

I like 'punaise' - more polite that 'merde'.

MDR = LOL (mort de rire)

'Caca boudin' - basically poo pudding. Said by all little kids in France!

I sneakily say Pute. Your shoes away / the bowl in the kitchen / the pen down. It's passive aggressive. But I'm the only French speaker and it's better than raging in English!
Les cinq lettres - mince instead of merde. Also good in a strong Scottish accent!.
Ta mere?
Also avoir les fesses en feu. Always makes me chuckle :-) We do not live in France but family and friends now use bof!

not sure I have the spelling/grammar right, but mouette le maillot - get your bathing suit wet = work bloody hard at something