French Language notes - February 2019

Given France’s obsession with, and love for, fresh produce, it is hardly surprising that a cursory browse of the fruit and vegetables displayed at your local market might inadvertently trigger a food-related idiom or two. There are many to choose from.

Some of these fruity phrases used in everyday conversation are sweet and innocuous, just like their edible inspirations – for example, avoir la banane (literally, to have the banana) means to have a big smile, while avoir la pèche (to have the peach) is used to describe being in good form or feeling great (feeling peachy, perhaps!).

Less kindly in nature, especially when one is describing an adult and not a child, is the delightful ‘il/elle est haut(e) comme trois pommes (he/she is as tall as three apples).

Turning to more practical matters...couper la poire en deux (to cut the pear in two) means to split the difference, or go halves, such as when paying a restaurant bill.

If a driver is in trouble with the law and gets a ticket (this is called un PV or procès-verbal) you could say ‘il s’est prit une prune’ – literally ‘he got given a plum’. The implication is that a plum is worthless, and this reputation is said to date back to the Crusades, when the Crusaders were defeated and could only bring back the roots of plum trees from Damascus from which they tasted their delicious fruits.

Upon their return, the King expressed dismay at them having gone all that way for nothing but plums. To do something ‘pour des prunes’ means to do something for nothing.

Until the 19th century prendre une prune was also argot for getting a punch in the face.