Expressions - 2
Do you remember how much fun we had with the funny expressions that grown-ups use sometimes? I still have a few more that I want to share with you. Here they are:
To pass out (in French, “To fall in the apples”): when I hear that, I always imagine a big pile of apples tumbling down because someone falls in them. But it means passing out. I have a friend who fell in the playground, hurt himself badly and was bleeding. We quickly sat him on a chair so he wouldn't ‘fall in the apples’.
To be very clear (in French, “To put the dots on the Is”): at school, dots and accents bother me. But here, it has nothing to do with that. When grown-ups “put the dots on the Is” in French, it means they state things very clearly: mommy “put the dots on the Is” the other day: no more watching TV at snack time.
My little finger told me (in English, “A little bird told me”): Mrs. Jeanne used to say that every now and then when I was in her class in preschool. And I always looked at her little finger to try to see what was so special about it. But Mommy explained to me that this was Mrs. Jeanne's way of saying that she knew something but didn't want to say how she had come to know about it. For example, when you disobeyed and someone was going to turn you down, sometimes she would say, ‘I know you didn't put your papers in the trash during the break, my little finger told me’.
Jumping from one topic to another (in French, “Going from rooster to donkey”): that's a really weird expression. I don't know why grown-ups chose those animals. Probably because they don't look alike. Going from rooster to donkey means that one person moves suddenly from one thing to another in a conversation. For example, when mommy says to me ‘Ptit Bunny, don't forget to clean up your room’ while I'm explaining my day to her, she really goes from rooster to donkey!
It’s raining cats and dogs (in French, “It’s raining cords”): it just means it's raining really hard. But I prefer another expression that I once heard at my grandpa's house: "it's raining like a cow pissing", but I'm not sure that's very polite.
Walls have ears: the first time I heard that sentence, it scared me a little to think that walls have ears. All walls? And where are their ears then? But then I got an explanation: it means that someone could hear what we say. For example, if I want to do something mischievous with my little brother, I have to explain it to him whispering, because walls have ears, meaning my mommy or someone else could hear it.
To do exactly as you are told (in French, “To obey to the finger and the eye”). Like when I want to be really nice, I obey to the finger and the eye.
To be wrong, to make a mistake (in French, “To put your finger in your eye”). It hurts. But when grown-ups say ‘I put my finger in my eye’, it's not the same thing! It just means to be wrong.
To not bite your tongue (in French, “Not having your tongue in your pocket”): that's really weird too. It's when you're not shy, that you speak your mind, and that you're able to reply quickly and easily.
Easy as pie (in French, “Fingers in the nose”): the first time I heard a grown-up say ‘you're going to do this fingers in the nose’, I thought ‘I really don't think that's a good idea’. I must have looked very surprised because Mommy laughed and said, ‘Ptit Bunny, fingers in the nose, it means easily’. I thought about it and then I said, ‘My dictation: fingers in the nose! ’ And we had a good laugh.
Learning can be a lot of fun!