Quand les poules auront des dents
Meaning: Never — it describes something that will simply never happen.
Language: French
Literally: When hens have teeth
Category: The Absurd
Origin: French humor of the 18th century settled on the toothless hen as the perfect image of impossibility, the cousin of English 'when pigs fly'.
Other ways to say this
- Russian: Когда рак на горе свистнет (Kogda rak na gore svistnet) — literally: When a crayfish whistles on the mountain
- Portuguese: Nem que a vaca tussa — literally: Not even if the cow coughs
- English: when hell freezes over
- French: Aux calendes grecques — literally: At the Greek calends
- French: À la Saint-Glinglin — literally: On Saint Glinglin's day
More idioms — The Absurd
- Mad as a hatter — Completely eccentric or unhinged.
- No hay tu tía — There's no way around it; nothing can be done.
- Avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto — To be unable to see what is right in front of you.
- Viajar na maionese — To talk nonsense or drift off into your own dream world.
- Skägget i brevlådan — Caught red-handed in an awkward, embarrassing position.
- يعمل من الحبة قبة (Ya'mal min al-ḥabba qubba) — To blow something tiny completely out of proportion.
More French idioms
- Il y a anguille sous roche — Something suspicious is quietly going on beneath the surface.
- Ménager la chèvre et le chou — To try to please both sides of a conflict without committing to either.
- Avoir la gueule de bois — To be hungover.
- Filer à l'anglaise — To leave discreetly without saying goodbye.
- Se mettre sur son trente-et-un — To dress up in your very best clothes.
- Les doigts dans le nez — To do something with the greatest of ease.
From our tongue twisters
- Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? — A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.
- Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès. — An 's' / 'si' minefield.
- Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.