When you are about to drop or have just dropped an “F Bomb” in polite company, it is not unusual to excuse yourself by saying, “Excuse my French.” In much the same way in Greek, τα γαλλικά is a foul-mouthed tirade.
Babiniotis: βρισιές: “ο ποδοσφαιριστής σε έξαλλη κατάσταση άρχισε τα Γαλλικά προς τον διαιτητή” = Beside himself, the player shouted blue murder at the ref.
Φεύγω/το σκάω/(το) στρίβω αλά γαλλικά = to take French leave i.e. to go AWOL. The French get their own back with filer à l’anglaise.
A γαλλικό φιλί is the same as the English ‘French kiss’.
More morbidly, the Γαλλική αρρώστια is syphilis or μαλαφράντζα (another word offered by Babiniotis by way of definition). I love it when dictionaries confuse you by giving you definitions more difficult to understand than the original word or expression; μαλαφράντζα is a synonym for syphilis but it can refer to any venereal disease. It is a corruption of the Italian male di Francia.
I suppose every language has idioms that are insulting to other national or regional groups. My favourite Greek one is κάνω αρμενική βίζιτα which means to overstay one’s welcome. As I have never been visited by an Armenian, I cannot vouch for its accuracy.
In France, the people of Gascony get it in the neck: une promesse de Gascon is an empty promise.
Two of my favourites in English are a ‘Mexican car wash’ ie getting your car washed by the rain, and a ‘Dutch oven’ – the unpleasant activity of farting in bed and then pulling the quilt over your partner’s head so that he or she can enjoy your very own personalised methane emission.
See you soon. My resolution is to post more frequently in 2025, a promise I failed to keep in 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021. We’ll see.
Leave a Reply