![\"Un](\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/blog\/camion.gif\")
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An interesting French expression I learnt last week is beau comme un camion<\/strong>, which literally means “pretty as a truck\/lorry”, and actually means pretty, cute or beautiful. <\/p>\n Apparently this idiom appeared around the middle of the 20th century and was at first ironic, as few people find trucks pretty. However it came to mean graceful and beautiful, and the use of the word camion<\/em> (truck\/lorry) emphasizes the importance of the word beau<\/em> (pretty, beautiful) [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n Here are some equivalents of this phrase in other languages:<\/p>\n English<\/strong> Spanish<\/strong> Flemish<\/strong> Dutch<\/strong>
\n – pretty as a picture
\n – easy on the eye(s)
\n – cute as a button<\/p>\n
\n – estar como un tren = to be like a train<\/p>\n
\n – een lust voor het oog = a pleasure for the eye<\/p>\n
\n – een ‘stoot’ zijn = a punch in the gob
\n – zo mooi als een madonna \/ plaatje = pretty like a madona\/picture
\n – als een vlag op een modderschuit = like a flag on a barge filled with mud
\n – beeldschoon = pretty as a picture
\n – een plaatje = a photo<\/p>\n