Se faire du mouron
Meaning: To worry oneself.
Language: French
Literally: To give oneself some hair
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: Gaston Esnault dates it to 1948, which is recent for one of these. Mouron is the plant chickweed, but in slang since the middle of the 19th century it has meant hair, and that is the sense at work — se faire du mouron is se faire des cheveux, to give oneself hair, in a coarser register. The neighboring expressions run the same way: se faire de la bile (to make oneself bile), se faire du mauvais sang (bad blood), se faire un sang d'encre (ink-black blood). Strictly, worry makes people tear their hair out rather than grow it, which looks like an objection until the fuller original turns up — se faire des cheveux blancs, to give oneself white hair, which is exactly what worry does. The short form is an ellipsis of that.
More idioms — Body & Senses
- 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.
- Couper les cheveux en quatre — To over-analyze or split hairs.
- Se regarder le nombril — To be self-centered or narcissistic.
- Tomaten auf den Augen haben — To be oblivious to what's right in front of you.
- Die Daumen drücken — To wish someone good luck (like crossing fingers).
More French idioms
- 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.
- Pédaler dans la semoule — To be confused and getting nowhere.
- Avoir d'autres chats à fouetter — To have more important things to do.
From our tongue twisters
- Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.
- Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
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