FrenchManger sur le pouce
Meaning: To eat in a hurry, standing up.
Literally: To eat on the thumb
Example: “Entre deux réunions, elle mange sur le pouce un sandwich.” — Between two meetings, she grabs a quick sandwich.
English equivalent: To grab a bite
Equivalents in other languages
Russian: заморить червячка (zamorit' chervyachka) Literally: Starve the worm
English: grab a bite
Origin: Attested from the start of the 19th century, and the picture is a specific one rather than a vague idea of haste. Think of a laborer or a soldier with a short break and a hunk of bread: one hand holds the bread, the other a knife, and the knife cuts a piece and pushes it onto the thumb — which, being opposable, works as a ledge — holding it there while it travels to the mouth. Once you have seen the gesture, which was ordinary enough to need no explaining at the time, the expression explains itself.
More French idioms
- S'en moquer comme de l'an quarante To not care in the slightest.
- Fait comme un rat Trapped, with no way out.
- Le roi n'est pas son cousin He is beside himself with happiness — and sometimes rather too pleased with himself.
- Travailler pour le roi de Prusse To work for nothing.
- Se magner la rondelle To get a move on. Vulgar.
- Rôtir le balai To live in poverty — and later, to live a life of debauchery.
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