With summer sunshine comes summer fruits: fresh strawberries, apricots, peaches and more.
From 'half-figs' to 'good pears', we look at some popular fruit-related French phrases and explain how to use them in casual conversations this season.
1. Être mi-figue mi-raisin
Literally: to be half-fig half-grape.
It means that something is both good and bad. It is used to show hesitation or a contradictory feeling.
You would say this to refer to someone who has fainted.
Some claim that it comes from writer George Sand who used the expression être dans les pommes cuites (literally to be in cooked apples) to explain that she was extremely tired.
This is said of someone who is naive and too kind.
The expression comes from the fact that pears usually fall by themselves from the tree once matured – comparing it to how someone can easily fall into a trap.
This means to be in a good mood and have a lot of energy.
It is similar to the English phrase: to be full of beans.
Its origins are unknown but it has been linked to the fact that peaches are a symbol of immortality and health in Chinese culture.
5. Sucrer les fraises
Literally: to put sugar on the strawberries.
This means to shake nervously and is sometimes used in reference to elderly people with trembling movements. The person trembling is compared to the way you shake your hand when you put sugar on strawberries.
6. Haut comme trois pommes
Literally: tall like three apples.
This means to be short.
7. Ramener sa fraise
Literally: to bring one's strawberry.
This means to interfere in a situation when nobody asked for your opinion.
While fraise is most commonly used to mean 'strawberry', it can also refer to the ruffs which members of high society wore around their necks in the 16th and 17th centuries.
So 'ramener sa fraise' could perhaps be translated as 'sticking one's nose in' or 'sticking one's oar in', and creates the image of a person's elaborate ruff butting in between people as its owner enters a conversation which does not concern them.
8. Compter pour des prunes
Literally: to count for plums.
This means to not matter, to not be important.
It dates from the 16th Century when plums were considered to have no value.
9. Avoir la banane
Literally: to have the banana.
This means to be happy and in a good mood.
The reference to a banana refers to the shape of a smile on someone's face.
Pic: Christian Jung / Shutterstock
10. Avoir le melon
Literally: to have the melon.
This means to have a big ego.
'Melon' is sometimes used in French to refer to a person's head.
A related expression is: prendre le melon (to take the melon). It is used to mean that someone is becoming big-headed.
