La vache !
Meaning: An exclamation — either at someone's rottenness, or, just as often, at something impressive.
Language: French
Literally: The cow!
Category: Animals
Origin: The insult came first. A cow can deliver a coup de pied en vache, a sudden sideways kick from one hind leg with no warning at all, and the sheer sneakiness of it gave a placid animal a name for being sly and vicious; Gaston Esnault dates vache ! in this sense to 1880. Aimed at a person it meant roughly what l'enfoiré ! means now, and modern French tends to reach for something coarser still. Then the phrase did what exclamations do and turned around completely. By antiphrasis — the same move that lets English say you monster to someone who has just done something wonderful — la vache ! became an expression of admiration, and that is how you will usually hear it today: at a magic trick, at a bill, at a piece of news. Same two words, opposite verdicts, and only the tone to tell them apart.
More idioms — Animals
- Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard — It's nothing special or impressive.
- 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.
- Da steppt der Bär — It's going to be a great party.
- Ich glaub mein Schwein pfeift — I can't believe it! That's outrageous!
More French idioms
- Avoir une veine de cocu — To be outrageously, undeservedly lucky.
- Bon vent ! — Safe travels — or, said in the right tone, good riddance.
- Comme la vérole sur le bas clergé — Suddenly and with great violence — descending on something all at once.
- Des vertes et des pas mûres — Shocking or outrageous things — and, by extension, a very rough time of it.
- Prendre une veste — To suffer a defeat, especially at the polls.
- C'est comme pisser dans un violon — A completely pointless effort.
From our proverbs
- It is an ill bird that defiles its own nest. — Betraying your family or community harms the very foundation of your own security and bel…
- Tis an ill dog that deserves not a bone. — Even the most troublesome dog has earned some small reward through its service or loyalty.
- He who hath no ill fortune, is dazed with good. — Unrelenting prosperity blinds people to reality; adversity provides necessary clarity and…
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