Pardon My French Part Trois

In

,
  1. Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard.
    It’s nothing to write home about.
    Literally: “It doesn’t break three legs of a duck.”
  2. Mettre les pieds dans le plat.
    To put your foot in it.
    Literally: “To put your feet in the dish.”
  3. Quand les poules auront des dents.
    When pigs fly.
    Literally: “When hens have teeth.”
  4. Avoir le cafard.
    To feel blue, miserable or down.
    Literally, cafard also means “cockroach” — so you are, wonderfully, “having the cockroach.”
  5. Il n’y a que les imbéciles qui ne changent pas d’avis.
    Only fools never change their minds.

Author

Jo Harper is a British writer, journalist, editor and teacher who has lived in Warsaw since the 1990s. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and has worked for international media including Deutsche Welle, Politico and Anadolu Agency. He is the author of several books on Poland, Europe, memory and identity, and the founder of Shoot the Breeze.

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