FrenchUne peau de vache
Meaning: A vicious, pitiless person — a hard case, especially one with authority over you.
Literally: A cow's hide
Example: “Notre ancien chef était une vraie peau de vache.” — Our old boss was a real nasty piece of work.
English equivalent: A nasty piece of work
Equivalents in other languages
English: a nasty piece of work
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 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.
- Montrer de quel bois on se chauffe To show someone what one is made of — almost always a threat: you're about to find out ho…
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