Cucul la praline
Meaning: Twee; soppy; embarrassingly naive.
Language: French
Literally: Silly-bum the praline
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: Cucul is a childish reduplication of cul, and why that came to mean silly rather than anything else is not known. Nor is it known why a feminine noun was hooked on the end to intensify it — the same construction gives cucul la fraise and cucul la rainette. The expression is from the first half of the 20th century, and Colette was using the bare cucu in 1933. The praline itself is named for the Maréchal de Plessis-Praslin, whose cook invented the sugared almond in the 17th century; the word means something different to everyone, being a sugared almond in France, a filled chocolate in Belgium, and a bullet to a criminal. One published account routes it through the Seychelles, where the island of Praslin grows a very suggestively shaped coconut known as the coco-fesses — fesses plus Praslin plus the confection giving cucul la praline, with the nut's ridiculous shape supplying the sense. For the record, a cuculle is less ridiculous than a cucul: it is a monk's hood.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- Pour des prunes — For nothing; in vain.
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
- Pédaler dans la semoule — To be confused and getting nowhere.
- Raconter des salades — To tell lies or tall tales.
- En faire tout un fromage — To make a big deal out of nothing.
More French idioms
- S'en moquer comme de l'an quarante — To not care in the slightest.
- Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard — It's nothing special or impressive.
- C'est comme pisser dans un violon — A completely pointless effort.
- Avoir le cafard — To feel depressed or down.
- Poser un lapin — To stand someone up on a date.
- Avoir d'autres chats à fouetter — To have more important things to do.
From our false friends
- Librairie — Actually means 'bookshop'. A library is une bibliothèque.
- Pain — Actually means 'bread'. The hurting kind of pain is la douleur.
- Coin — Actually means 'corner'. A coin you spend is une pièce.
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