FrenchÇa va durer trois plombes
Meaning: It's going to take hours.
Literally: It's going to last three leads
Example: “Si on attend que ton frère se prépare, ça va durer trois plombes.” — If we wait for your brother to get ready, we'll be here until the cows come home.
English equivalent: Until the cows come home
Equivalents in other languages
Filipino: Namumuti ang mata Literally: The eyes turn white
English: until the cows come home
Origin: The number is free — any will do — so the question is how a plombe came to mean an hour. The trail is not certain, though several lexicographers follow it. The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records that in the 17th century the verb plomber could, rarely, mean to strike. Striking is what jacquemart figures do to bell when they sound the hours, and the weights driving an old clock are themselves called plombs, after what they were made of. Enough lead attached to the sounding of hours to explain why, across the 19th century, slang plomber meant to sound the hour — and from there to plombe for an hour, attested from 1811, is a short step. One thing unsettles it: Gaston Esnault records plombe also meaning a month, and a year, between 1790 and 1850, with no explanation for either.
More French idioms
- Se chatouiller le poireau To masturbate, said of a man. Vulgar.
- Manger sur le pouce To eat in a hurry, standing up.
- Cucul la praline Twee; soppy; embarrassingly naive.
- Pour des prunes For nothing; in vain.
- Fait comme un rat Trapped, with no way out.
- Travailler pour le roi de Prusse To work for nothing.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
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- Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre Patience is rewarded in the end.
- Qui se ressemble s'assemble People tend to seek out others like themselves.
- L'avenir appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt Early risers, and hard workers in general, are the ones who succeed.
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