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WORD OF DAY

French expression of the day: Comme une fleur

Another French expression that sounds nice but isn't.

French expression of the day: Comme une fleur
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Why do I need to know comme une fleur ?

Because if you are a foreigner living in France, chances are that you are sometimes acting 'like a flower'.

What does it mean ?

Comme une fleur is a form of fake politeness, most often used to make fun of naive or unprepared people.

It is generally used when someone has arrived unprepared in a given situation. For example, you have arrived comme une fleur in Paris if you were expecting the entire city to look like Montmartre.  

Originally, comme une fleur was used to describe something happening naturally, like a flower blooming in springtime, but over time has come to be used more in its ironic sense.

Comme une fleur can also mean that your presence is embarrassing or unwanted.

So even though comme une fleur sounds like a poetic phrase, it is not exactly nice. If somebody says that you have been arriving comme une fleur, ask yourself whether you have a clue about what is going on.

Use it like this

Je ne pensais pas que ce serait si difficile d’avoir un pass Navigo. Je suis arrivée comme une fleur au guichet, et on m’a dit qu’il fallait donner cinq documents – I never thought it would be that difficult to get a Navigo pass for the Metro. I arrived innocently at the counter, and I was told I needed to give them five documents.

J’en ai assez de Gabriel, il ne prépare jamais rien. Il est encore arrivé comme une fleur à la réunion ce matin – I can’t stand Gabriel’s attitude, he never prepares anything. As usual, he did not have a clue at this morning’s meeting.

On s’amusait bien à la fête de Léo, et Antoine est arrivé comme une fleur alors que personne ne l’avait invité – We were having a good time at Leo’s party, and Antoine showed up even though no one invited him. It was awkward.

Synonyms

Comme un cheveu sur la soupe – To come at the worst possible moment.

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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French Expression of the Day: Caillou dans la chaussure

This one might come in handy when you’re complaining about French bureaucracy.

French Expression of the Day: Caillou dans la chaussure

Why do I need to know Caillou dans la chaussure?

Because, sometimes, you just need to tell someone about your frustration with life’s little, annoying, metaphorically painful niggles.

What does it mean?

Caillou dans la chaussure – roughly pronounced kay-oo don la shass-your – translates as ‘stone in the shoe’, is a phrase as old as time, and means exactly what it says.

You can use this in a literal sense, for example if you’re hiking and get gravel in your boots, but it’s more usually used as a metaphor.

When someone says they have a pebble in their shoe, it means that something is not right – and it describes the metaphorical feeling of something troublesome that is more painful than it really needs to be and is creating bigger problems than its size would suggest.

You can use it about your own problems, and it’s also used to describe something that is a big problem for someone else – in English you might say something is the ‘millstone around their neck’ to describe a big, weighty problem that won’t go away.

Use it like this

Nouvelle-Calédonie : le gros caillou dans la chaussure de Macron – New Caledonia is the millstone around Macron’s neck

Nous connaissons tous cette sensation désagréable d’avoir un caillou coincé dans notre chaussure – We all know that unpleasant feeling of having a stone stuck in our shoe.

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