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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French expression of the day: Coup de pouce

In French, a thumb can be all you need.

French expression of the day: Coup de pouce
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Why do I need t know coup de pouce?

Because it's common and there's no good literal English translation.

What does it mean?

Coup is a versatile French word that can mean a lot of different things depending on the context, while pouce is French for 'thumb'.

READ ALSO: The French word that can mean a drink, a punch, a helping hand and much more beside

 

Literally coup de pouce therefore translates as 'stroke of thumb', 'blow of thumb' or 'knock of thumb' – none of which makes a lot of sense.

But the expression coup de pouce really refers to giving someone or something a 'boost', 'nudge' or 'helping hand', although coupe de main is more common for the latter.

Coup de pouce is often used about financial aid or economic situations, combined with the verb donner (to give).

Donner un coup de pouce – to give a helping hand/ to boost.

For example, the French government has set in place a bike repair scheme called Coup de pouce vélo (Bike boost), which aims to get more commuters to pick the bike over other means of transport to get around.

READ ALSO: How to get €50 to cover the cost of your bike repairs in France

 

Use it like this

L'industrie française aurait vraiment besoin d'un coup de pouce en ce moment suite à la crise sanitaire. – French industry could really use some help right now.

Le déconfinement a tout de suite donné un coup de pouce à l'économie. – The lifting of lockdown gave the economy a boost straight away.

Le gouvernement français a donné un coup de pouce aux petites entreprises à travers du fonds de solidarité. – The French government helped small businesses through the solidarity fund.

Synonyms

Coup de main – helping hand

Aide – help

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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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