FrenchAvoir la patate
Meaning: To be on great form; to be full of energy.
Literally: To have the fry / to have the potato
Example: “Après une bonne nuit de sommeil, j'ai la patate !” — After a good night's sleep, I'm full of beans!
English equivalent: Full of beans
Origin: The potato comes first. Early 20th-century slang made patate a word for the head, on the strength of its roundly unflattering shape — poire (pear) had served the same purpose before it. From there a man in good form has a fine patate, by way of a phrase like il a une sacrée patate, and eventually il a la patate: what his head shows is that he is doing well. Frite follows the same road much later. From about 1950 frite joins patate as slang for the head, on the simple joke that fries are made of potatoes, and the expression itself arrives in the 1970s once avoir la patate had prepared the ground.
Other ways to say this
- French: Avoir la pêche Literally: To have the peach
English: be full of beans
More French idioms
- Il y a de l'eau dans le gaz Trouble is brewing; a quarrel is on the way.
- Faire du gringue To chat someone up, insistently.
- Être gonflé To be recklessly bold — or, said with irritation, to have a great deal of nerve.
- Pas folle, la guêpe ! Said of someone shrewd enough not to be taken in.
- Tirer au flanc To dodge work; to shirk.
- Habiller quelqu'un pour l'hiver To run someone down, usually behind their back.
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