Category: French (français)

All mouth and no trousers

By Simon

The idiom all mouth and no trousers came up last night at the French conversation group. We were actually looking for a French equivalent of all fur coat and no knickers and couldn’t find one, but did find an equivalent of all mouth and no trousers, which has a somewhat similar meaning.

According to the Oxford Dictionaries, to be all mouth and no trousers is to “tend to talk boastfully without any intention of acting on one’s words, while all fur coat and no knickers means to “have an impressive or sophisticated appearance which belies the fact that there is nothing to substantiate it” [source].

According to Wiktionary all mouth and no trousers comes from northern England, was originally all mouth and trousers, and refers to someone who is “superficial, engaging in empty, boastful talk, but not of real substance.” Apparently a US equivalent is all hat and no cattle, and there are many other idioms with the same meaning:

  • all bark and no bite
  • all bluff and bluster
  • all crown, no filling
  • all foam, no beer
  • all hammer, no nail
  • all icing, no cake
  • all shot, no powder
  • all sizzle and no steak
  • all talk
  • all talk and no action
  • all wax and no wick
  • all show, no go

An equivalent in Welsh is pen punt a chynffon dima (“pound head and halfpenny tail”). Are there similar idioms in other languages?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
bouffer to scoff (food) llowcio; claddu
se moquer de qn/qch to scoff at sb/sth gwawdio / cael hwl am ben rhywbeth/rhywun
mouchard grass (informer) prep(iwr); clepgi
cafteur snitch llechgi; llechiad; snechgi
malchanceux unlucky (person) anffodus; anlwcus
malheureux unlucky (defeat, conicidence, choice) anffodus
de malchance unlucky (day, moment) anffodus
porter malheur to be unlucky bod yn anlwcus / anffafriol
se distinguer to excel rhagori
chou frisé kale bresych deiliog; cêl
les bettes (fpl);
les blettes (fpl)		 chard ysgallddeilen; gorfetysen
aliment bourratif stodge stwnsh; sgrwtsh
bourratif; lourd stodgy (food) sgrwtshlyd; stwnshlyd; toeslyd
indigeste stodgy (book) trymaidd; trwm; diflas
barbant stodgy (person) diflas
tir à l’arc archery saethyddiaeth; saethu â bwa
la cible target saethnod; nod
il a que da la guele he’s all mouth and no trousers pen punt a chynffon dima

Interesting!

By Simon

The word interesting can have a variety of meanings, depending on how you say it and the context in which you use it. At least it does in British English.

The basic definition is “inspiring interest; absorbing” [source]. It comes from the noun interest (legal claim or right; concern; benefit, advantage), from the Anglo-French interesse (what one has a legal concern in), from the Medieval Latin interesse (compensation for loss), from the Latin verb interresse (to concern, make a difference, be of importance, or literally “to be between”), from inter- (between) and esse (to be) [source].

If you are asked your opinion on something, such as a film, play, concert, etc, that you didn’t like or enjoy, you might, if you’re British and don’t want to be negative, describe it as “interesting” and maybe praise an aspect of it that did appeal to you. Maybe you liked the costumes, the venue, the lighting, or whatever. You could also use this description for a person, place, thing or other event. This could be taken at face value, or as indirect criticism, if you read between the lines – damning with faint praise. This shouldn’t be confused with typical British understatement.

Other words you might use to describe something you didn’t like or enjoy include different, challenging and unusual. Do you have any others?

Is interesting used in this way in other varieties of English? How are equivalent words used in other languages?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
le rouage d’horloge clock work perfedd cloc; clocwaith; peirianwaith cloc; treuliau cloc
marcher comme sur des roulettes to go like clockwork mynd fel cloc; troi fel deiol
réglé comme du papier à musique as regular as clockwork mor rheolaidd â chloc/deial; fel y cloc
le rouage cog; gearwheel; part dant; cocsyn; cledren ddanheddog/gocos; olwyn ddanheddog
les rouage machinery perianwaith; peiriannau
être un rouage de la machine to be a cog in the machine/wheel bod neb o bwys yn y drefn
la manie; l’engouement (m); la mode craze chwilen; mympwy; ffasiwn; chwim
un engouement passager a passing fad mympwy/ffasiwn dros dro / byrhoedlog
métier (à tisser) (weaving) loom gwŷdd; ffrâm wau
épuisé; vendu sold out wedi i gyd ei werthu
le gibet gibbet; gallows crocbren
match nul draw (sports) gêm gyfartal
le crépuscule dusk tywyll; cyfnos; tywyllwch; llwydwyll
au crépuscule; à la tombée de la nuit at dusk gyda’r nos/cyfnos; rhwng dau liw/olau; ar awr y teiliwr
du matin au soir from dawn til/to dusk o fore gwyn tan nos; o wawr hyd fachlud; rhwng gwawl a gwyl

Les mots de le semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
la camelote tat hen drugareddau
la maternelle nursery school / kindergarten ysgol feithrin; meithrinfa
grillées (à sec) (dry-)roasted wedi ei rostio (yn sych) (?)
le brushing blow-dry chwythsychu
faire défiler to scroll (on screen) rholio
mur wall mur; wal
mûr mature; ripe aeddfed
mûre blackberry mwyaren ddu; mafonen ddu
les arts ménagers domestic science gwyddor ty
l’économie (f) domestique home economics economeg y cartref
le râtelier à bicyclettes/vélos bike rack (on floor/ground) rhesel beiciau
le porte-vélos bike rack (on car) rhesel beiciau
la galerie roof rack rhesel ben to
le porte-bagages luggage rack rhesel baciau/fagiau

Blackberries and Walls

By Simon

The French words mur (wall) mûr (ripe; mature) and mûre (blackberry; mulberry) are written differently but pronounced the same – [myʁ], so are only distinguished by context in speech.

The word mur (wall) comes from the Latin mūrus (wall), from the Old Latin *moerus/*moiros, from the Proto-Indo-European *mei (to fix, to build fortifications or fences) [source].

The word mûr (ripe; mature) comes from the Latin mātūrus (mature; ripe; early), from the Proto-Indo-European root *meh₂- (to ripen, to mature) [source].

The word mûre (blackberry; mulberry) comes from the Vulgar Latin mora (mulberry), from the Latin mōrum (mulberry) from the Ancient Greek μόρον (móron – mulberry; blackberry) from the Proto-Indo-European *moro (mulberry; blackberry). [source].

One Welsh word for wall, mur [mɨ̞r/mɪr], comes from the same root as the French word mur, probably via Norman or Latin. Another word for wall in Welsh is wal, which was probably borrowed from English. The word pared is used for interior walls, though only in literary Welsh. This probably comes from the Latin pariēs (wall) from the Proto-Indo-European *sparri (wall), which is also the root of the Spanish word pared (wall), the Portuguese parede (wall), and similar words in other Romance languages [source].

The word wall comes from the Old English weall (wall, dike, earthwork, rampart, dam, rocky shore, cliff), from the Proto-Germanic *wallaz/*wallą (wall, rampart, entrenchment), from the Latin vallum (wall, rampart, entrenchment, palisade), from the Proto-Indo-European *wel- (to turn, wind, roll) [source].

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
la sécheresse drought sychder; sychdwr; sychin
le col (de montagne) (mountain) pass bwlch
prudent careful (cautious) gofalus; gwyliadwrus; pwyllog
soigneux careful (handling) gofalus
minutieux careful (examination, study) gofalus; gwyliadwrus
fais attention (be) careful! gan bwyll! gofalwch! cymer ofal!
attentivement (listen, look) carefully yn ofalus; â gofal
avec soin; soigneusement carefully (planned; controlled; worded) yn ofalus; â gofal
prudemment (drive) carefully (gyrru) yn ofalus; â gofal
éviter soigneusement de faire qch to carefully avoid doing sth osgoi gwneud rhywbeth yn ofalus

Oideas Gael

By Simon

I’m having a wonderful time in Gleann Cholm Cille learning to play the harp and speaking plenty of Irish. The course is going really well – we started with basic techniques, and have learnt a number of tunes, including some from the Bóroimhe / Brian Boru suite by Michael Rooney.

I’ve videoed our teacher, Oisín Morrison, playing all the pieces we’ve learnt so far, and he’s going to give us some more pieces to learn at home.

People come here from all over the world on holiday and to do courses at Oideas Gael – this week you can do Irish language classes, harp playing, or hill walking – so there are opportunities to speak quite a few languages, including French, German, Swedish, Mandarin, Dutch and Scottish Gaelic. I’ve even learnt a bit of Serbian from a Bosnian woman who is studying Irish here.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
l’onde / le vague de chaleur heatwave ton wres; poethdon
le marché bargin (deal) bargen
faire un marché to make a bargain taro bargen; dod i delerau
faire le (la) difficile to drive a hard bargain bargeinio’n galed; taro bargen galed
l’affaire (f) bargain (good buy) bargen
C’était une (bonne) affaire it was / they were a (good) bargain roedd yn fargen dda
marchander to bargain (haggle) bargeinio
négocier; traiter to bargain (negotiate) bargeinio
la rampe handrail (on stairs) canllaw
la balustrade rail (on bridge or balcony) canllaw
la tringle (curtain) rail ffon llen; ffon cyrten
l’armoire (f) wardrobe (cupboard) wardrob; cwpwrdd dillad; dilladfa
la garde-robe wardrobe (clothes) dilladau; gwisgoedd
l’assiette (f) anglaise cold meat/cuts cig mân
la gencive gum (part of mouth) deintgig
le bilan de santé (medical) check-up archwiliad (meddygol)
l’arête (f) ridge (of mountain; roof) trum; crib; cefn
le diplômé (d’université) (university) graduate gŵr gradd; merch radd; graddedig
le chouchas jackdaw jac-do; jac-y-do; cogfran
la cacahuète peanut pysgneuenl; cneuen ddaear/fwnci
le frein à main hand-brake brêc llaw
le roulement de tambour drum roll sŵn drwm; dadwrdd drwm; tabyrddiad