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The end of the beans

Posted: Fri 08 Sep 2017 13:50
by martyn94
I saw an ad today saying that you ought to eat more veg, and fewer bad things, accompanied by a picture of nice fresh veg, including some fresh "French beans", with the headline "c'est pas la fin des haricots".

It brought vividly to mind my dear old dad, who used the expression a lot (in both French and English). It's one of those expressions that no-one uses anymore, but everyone knows what it means. There are various theories about where it comes from, but the basic idea is that dried beans are both cheap and long-keeping: if your larder is so bare that there aren't even any beans left, you've pretty much hit the buffers.

So the phrase I've quoted means, roughly, "it isn't the end of the world" (to change your diet a bit). I've always liked it, and maybe we should try to bring it back into use. Or I may just have been inattentive: has anyone heard it "in the wild" recently?

Re: The end of the beans

Posted: Sat 09 Sep 2017 12:16
by martyn94
martyn94 wrote:I saw an ad today saying that you ought to eat more veg, and fewer bad things, accompanied by a picture of nice fresh veg, including some fresh "French beans", with the headline "c'est pas la fin des haricots".

It brought vividly to mind my dear old dad, who used the expression a lot (in both French and English). It's one of those expressions that no-one uses anymore, but everyone knows what it means. There are various theories about where it comes from, but the basic idea is that dried beans are both cheap and long-keeping: if your larder is so bare that there aren't even any beans left, you've pretty much hit the buffers.

So the phrase I've quoted means, roughly, "it isn't the end of the world" (to change your diet a bit). I've always liked it, and maybe we should try to bring it back into use. Or I may just have been inattentive: has anyone heard it "in the wild" recently?
I quoted it from memory: the ad actually says "ce n'est vraiment pas la fin des haricots". But the sentiment is much the same.

Posted: Sun 10 Sep 2017 08:53
by Kate
Peut etre que les carottes sont cuites aussi!

Posted: Sun 10 Sep 2017 11:08
by martyn94
Kate wrote:Peut etre que les carottes sont cuites aussi!
Thanks for that. Apparently it was one of the code phrases put out by the BBC radio French service ("Ici Londres: les Français parlent aux Français") to set off resistance activity around D-Day: "les carottes sont cuites, je répète, les carottes sont cuites".

Why does almost anything nowadays remind me how dismal Brexit is?

Posted: Mon 11 Sep 2017 11:23
by Owens88
martyn94 wrote:
Kate wrote:Peut etre que les carottes sont cuites aussi!


Why does almost anything nowadays remind me how dismal Brexit is?
It makes a change from the weather.

Posted: Mon 11 Sep 2017 12:41
by martyn94
Owens88 wrote:
martyn94 wrote:
Kate wrote:Peut etre que les carottes sont cuites aussi!


Why does almost anything nowadays remind me how dismal Brexit is?
It makes a change from the weather.
And I blame that on Brexit too.

Posted: Tue 12 Sep 2017 23:27
by Owens88
Where the 'like' button?

5 French expressions

Posted: Wed 13 Sep 2017 12:49
by Helen
If it's the end of the beans and the carrots are cooked - how about pushing granny in the nettles?

All revealed in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGlC8_1t1Ps&t=201s

Re: 5 French expressions

Posted: Wed 01 Aug 2018 11:42
by martyn94
Helen wrote:If it's the end of the beans and the carrots are cooked - how about pushing granny in the nettles?

All revealed in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGlC8_1t1Ps&t=201s
Belatedly, I recall another useful expression. I made a tiled worktop for my sister in a Paris flat she rented decades ago. It was perhaps a bit over-engineered. Her boy-friend of the time said “you could hang your mother-in- law from it “ (though she would have to been quite short).

Posted: Wed 01 Aug 2018 12:31
by PublicInfo
My french is quite good but a bit too much from text books and formal learning.
The youtube channel linked in the post above is great. Thanks Helen.