Être soupe au lait
Meaning: To be quick-tempered and flare up easily.
Language: French
Literally: To be milk soup
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: Milk soup boils over the instant it heats, picturing someone whose temper rises in a flash.
Equivalents in other languages
- Finnish: Olla pinna kireällä — literally: To have the spoke tight
More idioms — Food & Drink
- Avoir la pêche — To be full of energy and on top form.
- Faire chou blanc — To draw a complete blank; to fail.
- Ramener sa fraise — To butt in or show off uninvited.
- To bite off more than you can chew — To take on more than you can handle.
- To take with a pinch of salt — To regard a claim with healthy skepticism.
- To butter someone up — To flatter someone to win their favor.
More French idioms
- Ne pas être sorti de l'auberge — To be far from done with one's troubles.
- Avoir une araignée au plafond — To be a little crazy.
- Ça m'en touche une sans faire bouger l'autre — I couldn't care less; it leaves me utterly indifferent.
- Prendre son pied — To take intense pleasure; to have a wonderful time.
- Il pleut comme vache qui pisse — It's pouring down — a crude, vivid way to say the rain is coming down extremely hard.
- Mettre la puce à l'oreille — To arouse someone's suspicion or make them uneasy about something.
From our tongue twisters
- Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? — A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.
- Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès. — An 's' / 'si' minefield.
- Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.