Mi-figue, mi-raisin
Meaning: Torn between pleasure and displeasure; half in earnest, half in jest.
Language: French
Literally: Half fig, half grape
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: An old phrase that has shifted sense repeatedly. Figs and raisins were the preferred dried fruits of Lent, which explains their being paired at all, though not why they are set against each other. In the 15th century the phrase used moitié rather than mi and meant partly good, partly bad; in the 16th, Guillaume Postel describes a troop of soldiers moitié figue, moitié raisin, meaning half Muslim and half Christian. The Académie française records the modern sense arriving in the 17th century, alongside a parallel one — half willingly, half under compulsion. The short mi only turns up in works of the early 19th century. There may also have been a straightforward opposition of quality behind it, the sweet grape against the fig, which carried a distinctly less appetizing reputation in period proverbs. A neat story about Corinthian merchants padding shipments of raisins to Venice with cheaper, heavier figs has no written evidence and looks invented after the fact.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
- Pédaler dans la semoule — To be confused and getting nowhere.
- Raconter des salades — To tell lies or tall tales.
- En faire tout un fromage — To make a big deal out of nothing.
- Mettre son grain de sel — To give an unsolicited opinion.
More French idioms
- Prendre la poudre d'escampette — To clear off in a hurry.
- Que dalle — Nothing at all.
- Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard — It's nothing special or impressive.
- C'est comme pisser dans un violon — A completely pointless effort.
- Avoir le cafard — To feel depressed or down.
- Poser un lapin — To stand someone up on a date.
From our compliments & insults
- Avoir un poil dans la main — To be incurably lazy.
- Tête de linotte — A scatterbrain who can't hold a thought.
- Courir sur le haricot — To get badly on someone's nerves.
Browse all compliments & insults →
Loading the full interactive collection…