FrenchAller au charbon
Meaning: To head off to work; to steel oneself for something disagreeable.
Literally: To go to the coal
Example: “Fini les vacances, lundi il faut retourner au charbon.” — Vacation's over; on Monday it's back to the grindstone.
English equivalent: To keep one's nose to the grindstone
Equivalents in other languages
English: keep one's nose to the grindstone
Origin: The obvious reading is a miner hauling sacks, and it is the wrong one. Gaston Esnault placed the phrase in Paris prostitution around the 1930s, where going to the coal meant holding a conventional job rather than living off the trade. Criminal slang borrowed it for honest work, and after the war theater people used it for emptying yourself on stage. Only from the 1980s did it settle into meaning ordinary work.
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- Couler un bronze To defecate.
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- Se cailler les miches To be freezing cold.
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- Bourré comme un coing Completely drunk.
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