FrenchBourré comme un coing
Meaning: Completely drunk.
Literally: Stuffed like a quince
Example: “Il est rentré du mariage bourré comme un coing.” — He came home from the wedding drunk as a skunk.
English equivalent: Drunk as a skunk
Other ways to say this
Polish: pijany jak świnia Literally: Drunk as a pig- French: Beurré comme un p'tit Lu Literally: Buttered like a little Lu
- French: Saoul comme un Polonais Literally: Drunk as a Pole
English: drunk as a skunk
Origin: A coing is a quince, the fruit of the cognassier (quince tree) that becomes jam or paste — not coin (a wedge, or a corner) said with an accent, which is the usual first guess. Why the quince should stand for drunkenness is honestly unresolved. The most-repeated thread runs through roundness: someone drunk is also rond (round) in French slang, and the quince is a rounder fruit than most, which Alain Rey took as the likely reason it was picked. Gaston Esnault proposed in 1935 that it is instead wordplay between the fruit and coin, the wedge hammered in to hold something fast — though it is hard to see where the play actually lands.
More French idioms
- Un chaud lapin A man with a voracious appetite for sex.
- Faire devenir chèvre To drive someone up the wall.
- Avaler des couleuvres To put up with insults or humiliations without being able to protest; also, to swallow an…
- Comme un coq en pâte Thoroughly pampered; living in complete comfort.
- S'en tamponner le coquillard To not care in the slightest.
- C'est dans mes cordes It is within my competence; I can handle that.
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