Une peau de vache
Meaning: A vicious, pitiless person — a hard case, especially one with authority over you.
Language: French
Literally: A cow's hide
Category: Animals
Origin: The cow is famously placid, which is exactly what makes the coup de pied en vache worth a name: a sudden sideways kick from a single hind leg, delivered without warning to whoever happened to be standing there. It hurts, and more to the point it is underhanded, and that is what earned the animal a reputation for being sly rather than merely mean. Gaston Esnault dates the insulting sense of vache to 1880. The peau on the front is pure reinforcement — the word turns venomous in this position, as it does in une vieille peau — so the phrase is a cow with the cruelty underlined twice. It is aimed above all at people who have power over you and enjoy it: the sergeant, the examiner, the boss.
More idioms — Animals
- La vache ! — An exclamation — either at someone's rottenness, or, just as often, at something impressi…
- Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard — It's nothing special or impressive.
- Avoir le cafard — To feel depressed or down.
- Poser un lapin — To stand someone up on a date.
- Avoir d'autres chats à fouetter — To have more important things to do.
- Da steppt der Bär — It's going to be a great party.
More French idioms
- Avoir une veine de cocu — To be outrageously, undeservedly lucky.
- Bon vent ! — Safe travels — or, said in the right tone, good riddance.
- Comme la vérole sur le bas clergé — Suddenly and with great violence — descending on something all at once.
- Des vertes et des pas mûres — Shocking or outrageous things — and, by extension, a very rough time of it.
- Prendre une veste — To suffer a defeat, especially at the polls.
- C'est comme pisser dans un violon — A completely pointless effort.
From our tongue twisters
- 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.
- Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
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