🚀 go-pugleaf

On Mon, 27 Oct 1997, Mike Dale wrote:

> Hi, I wonder if anyone would like to share with me and anyone else who
> is interested any humorous or unusual euphemisms they know.  I would
> especially like to hear any non-English ones (in translation please!)

Well, there are a few in French that are quite fun.

> (1) For going to the toilet/rest room:

  Aller telephoner
  Aller au petit coin        "to go to the small room"
  Aller egoutter la nouille  "to go and drain the pasta"
  Aller egoutter son colosse "to go and drain one's giant"
  Aller ouvrir les ecluses   "to go and open the lock"
  [These sound better in French than in English!!!]  

> (2) For homosexuality:

  Amities particulieres     = Homosexual relationships
                              (Lit. "special friendships")

  Avoir des moeurs particulieres = To be gay
                              (Lit. "to have special moral standards")

In French dockers' slang, "etre de la cale 2" (Lit. "to be in hold number
2) means to be gay, the allusion being to activities which might take
place in hold number 2, I suppose.

There's also "etre de la maison tire-bouton", a pun on "tire-bouchon"
meaning bottle-openr ("bouton" is a slang word for 'clitoris', which may
or may not explain the origin of the expression).

> 	That way inclined;

You can play on the word "tendences" ('tendencies'), basically "tendences"
plus adjective.

> 	From the other side of the church;

You can say "il n'est pas tres catholique", "il a des tendences peu
catholiques" ('he has non-Catholic tendencies').

In English there are some quite fun ones like "he's batting for the other
side", "he's on the other side of the fence".

> (4) For drunk:

> 	Tired and emotional;

  "avoir fait le plein" = "to have tanked up"
  "avoir la gueule en chocolat" = "to be chocolate-gobbed"
  "etre chocolat" = "to be chocolate"
  "avoir un coup de sirop en trop" = "to have had one dose too many"
  "etre dans le sirop" = "to be in the medicine"
  "voir des elephants roses" = "to be seeing pink elephants"
  [This last one is quite common]

> (5) For pregnant:

  "avoir avale le pepin" = "to have swallowed the pip"
  "avoir un polichinelle dans le tiroir" = "to have a doll in the drawer"
  "etre en cloque" = "to be bulging" ("cloque" = 'blister')
  "avoir le ballon" = "to have the ball"
  ['en cloque' is probably the most common]

> (6) For Sex:

  "faire une partie de jambes-en-l'air"
    ="to have a game of legs-in-the-air"

  "se la donner a fond"
    ="to give it one's all" (not quite sure a literal translation
     of this would really mean much)

--
Neil Coffey       |         e-mail: neil.coffey@st-annes.ox.ac.uk
St Anne's College |      UNIX talk: sann0585@sable.ox.ac.uk
Oxford            | World Wide Web: http://ox.compsoc.org.uk/~neil/
OX2 6HS           |                 (See my French-English dictionary)