IdiomFood & Drink
French
FrenchÊtre soupe au lait
Meaning: To be quick-tempered and flare up easily.
Literally: To be milk soup
Example: “Attention, il est soupe au lait : il s'énerve pour un rien.” — Careful, he has a short fuse: he gets angry over nothing.
English equivalent: To have a short fuse
Origin: Milk heated in a pot rises suddenly and boils over the moment one looks away, and milk soup does the same. Someone who is soupe au lait flares up just as quickly and often calms down as fast. In Labiche's comedy Embrassons-nous, Folleville ! (1850), a character boasts that he gets carried away comme une soupe au lait.
Equivalents in other languages
Spanish: Tener mala uva Literally: To have bad grape
Finnish: Olla pinna kireällä Literally: To have the spoke tight
English: have a short fuse
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.
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