Imagine overhearing the following sentence in a bar: “Pierre’s butt is overflowing with noodles.” What is one to make of such a statement? Does Pierre have a peculiar penchant for sticking noodles up his backside? Are the noodles in question cooked or not? Perhaps you misunderstood? In fact, “to have a butt overflowing with noodles” means simply “to be lucky.” Don’t ask me how this idiom came into existence. I like spaghetti as much as the next person, but I certainly don’t see how having them up my derrière makes me lucky! I managed to slip this little gem into casual conversation with my father-in-law the other day and it took all of my self-control not to dissolve into maniacal laughter. He didn’t think twice about the expression and just solemnly agreed, “Yep, he sure does.”
I get the biggest kick out of using hilarious idiomatic expressions in French. Here are some of my favorites literally translated:
“There’s a testicle in the vegetable soup,” means “We have a problem.” Indeed, if I were to find said appendage in my soup, that would be a problem. I love that this expression specifically mentions vegetable soup, as though it would be acceptable to find a testicle in any other kind of soup!
“It’s like pissing in a violin,” means “It’s useless.” I would love to know how this expression came to be. First of all, that sounds like a mighty challenging (and messy) prospect! Secondly, why would you want to tinkle in a violin at all?
“Take care of your onions,” is the equivalent of “Mind your own business/beeswax.” Or, if the situation calls for something slightly stronger than onions, you can say, “Take care of your butt.”
“The mustard is going up his nose,” means “He’s getting upset.” This one makes a lot of sense. Another great one is, “That makes me swell/inflate,” which roughly means “That annoys me.”
And last, but not least, one of my all-time favorites that you hear on a regular basis: “To send someone shitting” means “To tell someone to piss off.” Used in a sentence, you may hear something like this, “I really sent him shitting.” What an image!
On that note, I wish you all butts overflowing with noodles and testicle-free vegetable soup.
