This week’s idiom is, “Raisonner comme une casserole.”
Literally translated as, “reasoning like a saucepan,” it means demonstrating poor logic, formulating arguments that are evidently flawed. It is a colloquial expression that should only be used in informal conversation.
Example: “Ce n’est pas la peine d’essayer de discuter avec lui, il raisonne comme une casserole.” “It’s not worth trying to talk to him, he reasons like a saucepan.”
Listen to the idiom and example read aloud:
(If no player appears, here’s a link to the audio file.)
It’s not hard to imagine that debating philosophical matters with a saucepan would lead you nowhere, but there is actually a little more to this idiom than that: it is in fact a pun that plays upon two homophonous verbs, raisonner, which means to reason, and résonner, which means to resound. So when you say, “il raisonne comme une casserole,” it is really a double entendre, meaning that the person has as much sense as a saucepan, but also implying that if you banged him on the head, it would likely echo.
You may encounter another, non food-related version of this expression, raisonner comme un tambour (reasoning like a drum), based on the same idea.
[Curious about the saucepan pictured above? You are so my kind of person! I am pleased to introduce my new vintage enameled cast iron saucepan, which is part of the Coquelle line designed by Raymond Loewy for Le Creuset in 1958. It has a round base but a squarish rim, and my beloved cocotte is overjoyed to get such a cute new sibling.]