New blog post on the bread idioms series, and today we’re travelling to France! Manuela Ribecai from Traduttrissimo is taking us through the idioms in her native language- some are very similar to those we have seen for Italian, Romanian and even Greek, but some others are new and she also explains some interesting expressions, so I’m sure you’ll find it interesting. Thanks Manuela for taking part to this series, and thanks everyone for reading! In French culture, as well as in others, bread represents life, what we need to survive, our livelihoods and thus (by extension) work. Several expressions depict this idea: Un gagne-pain: a job. Not the kind of work we do with pleasure or passion, but more so a job to provide food (pour avoir de quoi se mettre sous la dent – to get something to put your teeth into). E.g.: C’est un gagne-pain comme un autre. => It’s a job like any other. Gagner sa croûte: work to have enough to live on, to earn one’s bread and butter. E.g.: Tu gagnes ta croûte, ce n’est déjà pas si mal. => You earn your living, that’s good enough. Ôter/retirer le pain de la bouche: cutting the ground under one’s foot. E.g.: Avec ces mesures, autant dire qu’ils nous retirent le pain de la bouche. => With these measures, they’re depriving us of what we need. Avoir du pain sur la planche: have a lot of work to do. E.g.: Je ne sors pas ce soir, j’ai encore du pain sur la planche. => I am not going out tonight, I still have some work to finish. Bread is clearly an important thing. It’s good, it’s vital, we must not waste it. Even nowadays, throwing bread away is still considered a sacrilege in some families. It’s precious, you don’t throw it away, you eat every crumb. Again, several expressions exist to remind us of that principle. Du pain perdu: culinary dish used to finish the “old bread”. You dip the slices of stale bread in a mixture of milk, eggs and sugar, then cook them in a pan using a little butter, and finally enjoy with a sprinkle of sugar. Ne pas perdre une miette: waste nothing (literally and figuratively). E.g.: Je n’ai pas perdu une miette de leur conversation. => I didn’t miss a word of their conversation. Long comme un jour sans pain: used for an endless unpleasant situation, of which we cannot see the end. Like groundhog day. E.g.: Cette soirée est longue comme un jour sans pain.=> This evening is boring, uninteresting, and I look forward to it being over with. Ça ne mange pas de pain: it has no consequence, it doesn’t cost much. E.g.: Il lui a souri, par politesse, ça ne mange pas de pain.=> He smiled at her, out of politeness, it doesn’t cost much. Être bon comme le (bon) pain: be kind, generous, altruistic… maybe even a little too much. E.g.: Cette famille est formidable, ils sont tous bons comme le bon pain.=> All members of this family are lovely, kind and caring. Partir/se vendre comme des petits pains: to be sold or taken easily and quickly, like hot cakes. E.g.: Tous les bricolages qu’il a préparés pour l’occasion se sont vendus comme des petits pains.=> All the crafts he prepared for the occasion were quickly sold, none left. But bread can also represent many things: – Une bouchée de pain: a low price, next to nothing. E.g.: J’ai eu cette robe pour une bouchée de pain=> I bought this dress for next to nothing. – Ne pas manger de ce pain-là: to refuse to take part in something. E.g.: Il m’a proposé une jolie somme pour faire un faux témoignage mais je ne mange pas de ce pain-là !=> He offered me a nice sum for perjury but it is out of the question, I’m not this kind of person. – Un pain: a punch (casual language register). E.g.: Il s’est ramassé un de ces pains !=> He received quite a punch. And many more… If you enjoyed this article, please let us know and spread the word of on social media! If your native language hasn’t been featured yet and you would like to give your contribution, drop me an email at giulia@wordsofnona.com to join our dream team! 😉
