Don’t give your tongue to a cat. Why not?
© iStock/Maroznc

Becoming Bilingual: Don’t Give Your Tongue to a Cat

In the picturesque and poetic world of French idioms, the animal kingdom is well represented. Noah—and his ark—would be proud. Animals are key players in the proverbs and sayings of French culture.

Cats, lambs, sheep, ducks, dogs, elephants, wolves, chickens, cows, cockroaches, spiders, fish, rabbits, horses, rats, and giraffes all make an appearance.

Where do sheep fit in to French idioms?
© Meredith Mullins

Idioms can come from various parts of a culture—food, history, social traditions, sports, values—but many languages use animals as a basis for their idioms.

Animals have universal appeal. We are familiar with basic animal characteristics no matter what our culture of origin. For centuries, we humans have observed how animals act.

We know that busy bees could do the lion’s share of the work and be so dog tired that they’d have to take a cat nap.

Why Idioms?

Learning a second language is never easy. But you know you are developing a bilingual brain when you can introduce idioms into casual conversation. And understanding this omnipresent figurative language will also give you insight into how a culture thinks.

Do you have a spider on the ceiling . . . or bats in the belfry?
© iStock/Backiris

Idioms can, of course, drive you crazy—making you feel like you have bats in the belfry. Or, as the French would say, “to have a spider on the ceiling” (avoir une araignée au plafond).

The words—the metaphors— often don’t make sense at all, even to the native speakers.

Leave well enough alone. Don’t wake the sleeping cat.
© Meredith Mullins

The Cat’s Meow

Our feline friends win the idiom popularity competition in French. Cat references are everywhere.

When things are going well, English speakers say, “Let sleeping dogs lie,” while French speakers advise, “Don’t wake the sleeping cat” (ne réveillez pas le chat qui dort).

When you arrive at a place where you’re supposed to meet someone and there’s no one around, you say “there is no cat” (il n’y a pas un chat).

Where is everyone? Il n’y a pas un chat.
© Meredith Mullins

You don’t have a “frog in your throat,” you have a “cat in your throat” (avoir un chat dans la gorge).

When you have better things to do, it’s not that you “have other fish to fry,” it’s that you have other cats to flog (avoir d’autres chats à fouetter).

And, if you want to “give up” and just quit (perhaps because there are too many cat idioms?), you “give your tongue to a cat” (donner sa langue au chat).

He won’t “give his tongue to a cat” because he doesn’t like to quit.
© Meredith Mullins

A Medley of Animal Visuals

Many of the French idioms are similar to English idioms. Someone can be as sly as a fox (rusé comme un renard), stubborn as a mule (têtu comme une mule), or they can take the bull by the horns (prendre le taureau par les cornes).

Someone can be talkative as a magpie (bavard comme une pie), slow as a tortoise (lent comme une tortue), soft as a lamb (doux comme un agneau), or dumb as a donkey (bête comme un âne).

But several of the French idioms tell a poetic and mysterious story.

“Entre chien et loup” is the mystical time between light and darkness.
© iStock/twildlife

“Entre chien et loop” literally means “between the dog and the wolf.” However, the picture this paints is more enchanted than the literal translation.

The phrase refers to dusk, when the light is growing dim and the world is becoming more mystical. Your mind can play tricks about what you see. Are you looking at a dog or a wolf?

This time between the spectrum of light and darkness would be called “the witching hour” in English.

The French idiom “peigner la girafe” (to comb the giraffe) also presents a rich visual. It tells a story of a difficult task—a job that will be challenging and time consuming and will perhaps not yield any fruitful results.

How long does it take to comb TWO giraffes?
© Lauren Gezurian

And, if we find we are wasting time combing the giraffe—that is to say, our focus is wandering and we are straying from important work—the French would say “revenons à nos moutons.” Let’s get back to our sheep. In other words, let’s get back to business. Let’s stay on topic.

Minding the sheep is important. So . . . let’s get to the task at hand. “Revenons à nos moutons.”
© Meredith Mullins

In France, folks can sometimes be as bored as a dead rat (s’ennuyer comme un rat mort). And when people feel blue, they say “j’ai le cafard,” which literally means “I have the cockroach”— now that’s a depressing thought.

Idioms are a good way to describe emotions or to give advice in any language; but, as the French say—Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps (One swallow does not mean it’s spring.) That is to say, don’t make generalizations about a people or a culture without further research.

Don’t jump to conclusions: one swallow does not mean it’s spring.
© DMT

Now, let’s get back to our sheep. (Nous revenons à nos moutons). How to master idiomatic language and continue to build a bilingual brain.

Oh, I See. Mastering Idioms Is Challenging

I have never actually been told out loud that I speak French like a Spanish cow (parler français comme une vache espagnole), but I’m sure some of my French friends have thought it.

Please don’t tell me I speak French like a Spanish cow.
© iStock/Jorgefontestad

This insulting phrase is the French idiom for implying that a stumbling French language learner is still, well, stumbling, especially when it comes to idiomatic expressions, proverbs, and sayings.

Will I ever build a bilingual brain with a full range of French idioms? I would have to answer “When pigs fly,” which is the English idiom for “not a chance.” In French, I would say “when hens have teeth” (quand les poules auront des dents).

Quand les poules auront des dents. Does that really mean never?
© iStock/Shootingstar22

I am, however, secretly optimistic about my idiomatic progress. There are, in fact, rare species of hens that DO have teeth.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.