I noticed recently that when a webpage crashes in the Google Chrome browser, you get an error message beginning with “Aw, Snap!”, which always amuses me. It’s not an expression I’ve ever used, and seeing it got me wondering whether it is in common use in other English-speaking countries. If you don’t use this expression, what others might you use in similar circumstances?
I’d probably say something like “Oops!” or “Oh dear!”.
What are equivalents of these expressions in other languages?
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| diriger | to run (a business; department; country) | rhedeg | dirijañ; sturiadañ |
| tenir | to run (a shop; hotel; house) | rhedeg; cadw | tiegiñ |
| la piste | runway | rhedfa | riboul |
| le vestiaire | changing room; cloakroom | ystafell newid | gwiskva |
| la cape | cloak | mantell; clogyn; clog | kap |
| l’accordeur de piano(s) | piano tuner | dyn tiwnio pianos | songeider piano |
| accorder | to tune (an instrument) | tiwnio; cyweirio; tonyddu | toniañ |
I discovered an interesting French idiom today – prendre la mouche – which means literally ‘to take the fly’ and is the equivalent of ‘to go off in a huff’. Huff refers to ‘a passing mood of anger or pique’ A French equivalent of ‘to be in a huff’ is être vexé. Are there similar expressions in other languages?
La mouche means fly, button or patch comes from the Latin mŭsca (fly)
Here are some other expressions featuring this word:
– bateau-mouche = pleasure boat (on the Seine)
– fine mouche = sharp customer
– oiseau-mouche = hummingbird (‘fly bird’)
– pattes de mouche = spidery scrawl (‘fly paws’)
– poids mouche = flyweight
– papier tue-mouche = flypaper
– mouche du coche = back-seat driver (‘coach fly’)
– mouche à miel = honey bee (‘honey fly’)
– faire mouche = bull’s-eye
Source: http://dictionary.reverso.net/
I discovered today that the French word for thumb, pouce, also means inch, which makes sense as the length of the inch is apparently based on the width of a man’s thumb.
Related expressions include:
– se tourner les pouces, se rouler les pouces = to twiddle one’s thumbs
– manger sur le pouce = to grab a quick bite to eat (“to eat on the thumb”)
– déjeuner/dîner sur le pouce = to have a quick lunch/dinner (“to lunch/dine on the thumb”)
– donner un coup de pouce à quelqu’un = to help someone out (“to give a blow of the thumb to sb”)
– mettre les pouces = to throw in the towel; to give in; to give up (“to put the thumbs”)
The word inch comes from the Latin word uncia (a twelfth; ouce; inch), as does the word ounce, which is a twelfth of a troy pound [source]
The word for inch is the same as the word for thumb in Italian (pollice), Dutch and Afrikaans (duim), and Czech and Slovak (palec). How about in other languages?
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| la pastille pour la toux | cough lozenge/sweet | losin at y frest; losin peswch; da-da annwyd | pastilh an paz (?) |
| le pastille pour le mal de gorge | throat lozenge/sweet | losin gwddwg; da-da dolur gwddw | pastilh an lo(v)rniet ma goûg (?) |
| la puce | flea | chwannen | c’hwenn |
| le pouce | thumb | bawd | meud |
| le gros orteil | big toe | bawd troed | meud an troad |
| le deuil | mourning | galarus | kañv |
| pleurer | to mourn | galaru | gouelañ; garmat; leñvañ |
| prendre le deuill | to go into mourning | dechrau/cychwyn galaru | ober e gañvoù; (g)ober begin |
| bruyant; chahuteur | rowdy; noisy | swnllyd; stwrllyd; terfysglyd; tyrfus | trouzus |
| les nuisances sonores (fpl) | noise pollution | llygredd sŵn | noazadurioù e-keñver trouz |
| délier la langue à qn | to loosen sb’s tongue | llacio tafod rhywun | distagellañ |
| diversifier | to diversify | amrywio; amrywiaethu | liesaat; dizunvaniñ |
| la forge | smithy | gefail gof | govel |
| le forgeron | blacksmith | gof | gov |
| ériger/dresser des barricades | to set up a barricade | codi baricêd | savelladenniñ stoc’hoù |
| tenir des barricades | to man the barricades | gweithio baricadau | |
| le feuilleton | (TV/radio) serial | cyfres | romant -kazetenn |
Droug gouzoug am eus, ha ne c’hallan ket kanañ evit c’hoazh, met gallout a gomz c’hoazh. N’am eus ket kanañ d’ar kor skleroz strewek (SKLES) dec’h. Gwelet am eus ur film, Tasmant d’an Opera, e skol-veur dec’h da nos.
I have a sore throat, and can’t sing at the moment, but can still speak. I didn’t go to the MS choir yesterday. Last night I saw the film Phantom of the Opera at the university.
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| (porter) déguisement | (to wear) fancy dress | (gwisgo) gwisg ffansi | (gwiskañ) abilhamant |
| déguisé(e) | in fancy dress | mewn gwisg ffansi | e dic’hize |
| se déguiser | to go in fancy dress | gwisgo gwisg ffansi | dic’hizañ; abilhañ; livañ |
| la fête costumé | fancy dress party | parti gwisg ffansi | fest gwisket |
| le bal masqué/costumé | fancy dress ball | dawns gwisg ffansi | bal masklet |
| sépulchre | sepulchre | beddrod | |
| une farce ou une gâterie bonbons ou bâton |
trick or treat | cast ynteu ceiniog | |
| la réunion des étudiants anciens | alumni reunion | aduniad cynfyfyrwyr | |
| nul; vraiment trash; tocarde | trashy (film, book) | diwerth; sothachlyd; da i ddim | neb; tamm |
| renvoyer qn; metter qn à la porte | to give sb the sack | rhoi’r hwi; rhoi ei droed; rhoi gardiau | diskouviañ; kas en e roud; war e giz |
| être mis à la porte; être renvoyer | to get the sack | cael yr hwu / y sac / y droed |
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| la fête; le foraine; la foire | (fun)fair | ffair | foar; kurioziteoù |
| le carême | Lent | Grawys | koraiz |
| un jeu de hasard | a game of chance | hapchwarae; chwarae siawns | c’hoari chañs |
| le cuivre (jaune); le laiton | brass | pres; efydd | kouevret; laton |
| la fanfare | brass band | band pres; seindorf pres | fañfar |
| le cuivres | the brass (section) | yr adran bres | kouevrennoù (?) |
| les huiles | top brass | prif swyddogion; pwysigion; pobl o bwys | |
| un self-made man; un autodidacte |
a self-made man | dyn a wnaeth ei ffortiwn ei hun | desket drezañ e-hunan |
| les frais | expenses | treuliau | mizoù |
| à court terme | short-term | cyfnod byr; tymor byr; byrdymor | berr dermen |
When looking through one of my dictionaries today I came across the word cahoot, which I’ve only seen before in the form cahoots, as in the expression ‘in cahoots with’, i.e. to be in partnership or in league with. The dictionary entry has the s in bracketts – cahoot(s) – so it seems this words can be used in the singular as well. Have you heard it used like that, or do you use it like that?
According to the OED, cahoot can also be used as a verb meaning ‘to act in partnership’. The following example is given, ‘They all agree to cahoot with their claims against Nicaragua and Costa Rica.’, which dates from 1857, so I suspect this might not be a contemporary use of the word, though I may be wrong.
The OED also states that cahoot is ‘Used in the South and West [of the USA] to denote a company, or partnership’, usually in the plural.
Cahoot either comes from the French cahute (cabin; poor hut), or from cohorte, from the Latin cohort (court, enclosure, company of soldiers).
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| la boîte à gants; vide-poche | glove box | bocs/blwch maneg (?) | lak-pep-tra |
| le visage impassible | poker face | wyneb difnegiant | |
| le courroux; la colère | wrath | dig; dicter; digofaint | buanegezh; droug |
| les raisins de la colère | the grapes of wrath | grawnwin digofaint | |
| rayé(e); à rayures | striped | rhesog; streipiog | rezennet |
| le pull-over | jumper | siwmper | stamm |
| le directeur intérim | acting manager | rheolwr gweithredol | rener etreadegourien |
| les ordures | (household) rubbish | (y)sbwriel | stronkoù |
| les déchets | (garden) rubbish | cribinion | lostajoù; stronkajoù |
| la camelote | rubbish (junk) | hen drugareddau; sothach | brizhvarc’hadourezh |
| le orgue | organ (instrument) | organ | orglez |