Manger les pissenlits par la racine

Literally: To eat the dandelions by the root

Example: “Si tu continues à conduire comme ça, tu vas finir par manger les pissenlits par la racine.” — If you keep driving like that, you'll end up pushing up daisies.

English equivalent: Push up daisies

Origin: Expressio dates the phrase to the middle of the 19th century: someone lying in the grave, face up, would reach the plants on top from below, by their roots. Why dandelions is not clear. They are quick to grow on freshly turned earth, and the lexicographer Alain Rey points out that pisser, in pissenlit, already had a link with death in pisser sur la fosse de quelqu'un, to outlive someone. In slang it is also bouffer les pissenlits par la racine, with bouffer, to eat. English pictures the same scene with "push up daisies."