*Autant pÈche celui qui tient le sac que celui qui met dedans = The receiver is as bad as the thief. [Wer die Letter hÄlt ist so schuldig wie der Dieb.] Tu sais que je n’ai plus le sac = You know I have no more money. Un homme de sac et de corde = A regular ruffian. Prendre quelqu’un la main dans le sac = To catch any one in the very act. Il m’a laissÉ voir le fond du sac = I guessed his intentions in spite of him. Juger sur l’Étiquette du sac = To judge by appearances. *Dans les petits sacs sont les fines Épices = Little fellows are often great wits; Small parcels hold fine wares. (See Aune and Onguent.) Tout le saint-frusquin (fam.) = The whole jolly lot (referring to money or clothes). Toute la sainte journÉe = The whole blessed (or, livelong) day. *À bon entendeur salut = A word to the wise is enough. Verb. sap. (See Avis.) Cela fait faire du mauvais sang = That causes one to worry. Suer sang et eau (fam.) = To strain every nerve. *Bon sang ne peut mentir = Good breeding always shows itself; Like father, like son. Sa toux sent le sapin = He has a churchyard cough. [Sapin = deal, of which coffins are made.] On ne sait À quelle sauce le mettre = There is no knowing what to do with him. *Trop de cuisiniers gÂtent la sauce = Too many cooks spoil the broth. [Although this may be but a translation of the English proverb, it is of constant use in France.] Il fait tout par sauts et par bonds = He does everything by fits and starts. Il s’est fait sauter la tÊte (or, la cervelle, more fam. le caisson) = He blew his brains out. Faire sauter la banque = To break the bank (gambling). *Sauve qui peut = Every one for himself; Run for your lives. Je me sauve = I must be off. Je ne sais comment cela est arrivÉ = I am at a loss to explain how it happened. Pas que je sache = Not to my knowledge. Je suis tout je ne sais comment = I am out of sorts. C’est À savoir = That remains to be seen. Il en sait plus d’une (fam.) = He knows more than one trick; He knows a trick or two. Il a beaucoup de savoir faire = He has his wits about him; He knows how to manage people. Il a du savoir vivre = He knows how to behave; He is well bred. Un je ne sais quoi = A “something” (I know not what). *De savoir vient avoir = Knowledge is power. *Qui plus sait plus se tait = A still tongue shows a wise head. *Qui rien ne sait, de rien ne doute = Who knows nothing, doubts nothing; Ignorance is bliss. Je lui donnerai un savon (fam.) = I will blow him up. [German: Ich werde ihm den Kopf waschen.] Je lui ai fait une scÈne = 1. I had a row with him. 2. I reproached (or, abused) him violently. Quelle scie! (fam.) = What a bother! SÉance tenante = Forthwith; There and then. C’est un grand sec = He is a tall, spare man. Sec comme un pendu = As thin as a lath. Boire sec = To drink hard. Il est À sec (pop.) = He is hard up, broke, in low water. SÉcher sur pied = To pine away. Crier au secours = To cry for help. *Secret de deux, secret de Dieu,
Secret de trois, secret de tous = No secret but between two. *À tout seigneur tout honneur = Honour to whom honour is due. Mettre du sel sous la queue d’un oiseau = To put salt on a bird’s tail. Mettre sur la sellette = To cross-question; To haul over the coals (fam.). [La sellette was the small wooden seat on which a culprit sat during his trial.] Cet officier est de semaine = He is officer of the week. Il dÉpensa toute sa semaine = He spent all his week’s wages (or, pocket-money). Je le ferai la semaine des trois (quatre) jeudis = I shall do it in a week of Sundays (i.e. never). [Also: Je le ferai quand les poules auront des dents.] PrÊter À la petite semaine = To lend money at high interest for a short time. A-t-on jamais vu rien de semblable? = Did you ever see such a thing? Rien de semblable = Nothing of the sort. Comme bon vous semble = Just as you please. Si bon vous semble = If you think fit. Lever la semelle devant quelqu’un = To show any one a clean pair of heels. Cela tombe sous le sens = That is self-evident, obvious. Sens dessus dessous = Upside down; Topsy-turvy. Sens devant derriÈre = Wrong side first. À contresens = Contrary to the meaning; In the wrong way. Cela ne sent pas bon = (fig.) I don’t like the look of that. Je ne me sens pas de joie = I am beside myself with joy. Qu’y a-t-il pour votre service? = What can I do for you? Madame est servie = Dinner is served. *À quoi sert de vous mettre en colÈre? = What is the use of getting angry? Cela va tout seul = That is no trouble; That works of its own accord. Il n’y a pas de si qui fasse = There is no excuse for it. Avec un si on mettrait Paris dans une bouteille = Such suppositions are idle; If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Il n’est pas riche.—Oh! que si = He is not rich.—Isn’t he, though! *Chacun le sien n’est pas trop = Let each have his own, then all is fair. Il fait des siennes = He is up to his old tricks again. Il en sera du sien = He will be a loser by it. On n’est jamais trahi que par les siens = It is always one’s friends (or, confederates) who betray one. Le singe est toujours singe, fÛt-il vÊtu de pourpre =
An ape’s an ape, a varlet’s a varlet,
Though they be clad in silk or scarlet. Il l’a payÉ en monnaie de singe = He paid him with promises; He jeered at him instead of paying him. [This expression originated in the ordinance of St. Louis regulating the payment of the tolls at the gates of Paris. Showmen were exempted from payment on causing their apes to skip and dance in front of the toll-keeper. Comp. Estienne Boileau, Establissements des mÉtiers de Paris, Chapitre del pÉage de Petit Pont:—“Li singes au marchant doibt quatre deniers, se il por vendre le porte: se li singes est a homme qui l’aist achetÉ por son dÉduit, si est quites, et se li singes est au joueur, jouer en doibt devant le pÉagier, et por son jeu doibt estre quites de toute la chose qu’il achÈte À son usage et aussitÔt le jongleur sont quite por un ver de chanson.”] *On ne saurait faire boire un Âne s’il n’a soif = One man can take a horse to the water, but twenty cannot make him drink. Il songe au solide = He has an eye to the main chance. Montrer le soleil avec un flambeau = To hold a farthing rushlight to the sun; To paint the lily. Je n’ai fait qu’un somme = I never woke all night. Somme toute = After all; Taking everything into consideration; To conclude. En somme = On the whole; In the main. “Puisqu’en vous il est faux que songes sont mensonges” = Since with you, it is untrue that dreams go by contraries. [MoliÈre, Étourdi, iv. 3.] *Mal d’autrui n’est que songe = Other people’s woes do not affect us much. C’est un songe-creux = He is full of idle fancies (or, day dreams); He is a wool-gatherer. Elle a quarante ans bien sonnÉs = She is over forty. Il est trois heures sonnÉes = It has struck three. Payer en bonnes espÈces sonnantes (et trÉbuchantes) = To pay in hard cash. Il nous berce de sornettes = He puts us off with silly tales. Le sort en est jetÉ = The die is cast; Alea jacta est. Elle lui a jetÉ un sort = She cast a spell over him; He is infatuated with her. Tirer au sort = To draw lots (for the army, etc.). Je lui ai parlÉ de la bonne sorte = I gave it him soundly; I gave him a piece of my mind. Il a fait une sortie = He flew into a passion. C’est un sot en trois lettres = He is a thorough fool. Quelque sot le ferait = One would be a fool to do that. *A sotte question point de rÉponse = Answer a fool according to his folly; A silly question needs no answer. Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l’admire = Even a fool will always find admirers. [Boileau, Art PoÉtique, 1.] Il n’y a pas de sots mÉtiers, il n’y a que de sottes gens = People may be petty, but work never is. Il a fait de cent sous quatre livres, et de quatre livres rien = He has brought his noble to ninepence, and his ninepence to nothing. [Livre here has nothing to do with our English pound sterling. It is practically the equivalent of the modern franc. Hence the proverb means: He reduced 100 sous to 80 sous.] Une affaire de deux sous = A twopenny-halfpenny affair. Cela vaut mille francs comme un sou = It is worth £40 if it is worth a penny. C’est une vraie souche = He is a regular log. Faire souche = To found a family. Donner un soufflet À Vaugelas = To murder the King’s English; To offend Lindley Murray. [Vaugelas (1585-1650) was a celebrated writer on French grammar, one of the first members of the AcadÉmie FranÇaise, and one of the chief contributors to its Dictionary. Comp. MoliÈre, Les Femmes Savantes, ii. 7: “Elle y met Vaugelas en piÈces tous les jours.” Donner un soufflet À Ronsard was also used, and, in the Middle Ages, Casser la tÊte de Priscien, from the famous grammarian of the fourth century.] *Si souhaits fussent vrais,
Pastoureaux rois seraient. | } = { | If wishes were horses,
Beggars would ride.
| [Compare Si.] Je t’en souhaite! (pop.) = I wish you may get it. Souhaiter la bonne annÉe À quelqu’un = To wish some one a happy new year. *A merle soÛl cerises sont amÈres = Plenty makes dainty. Parler tout son soÛl (pop.) = To speak to one’s heart’s content. Être dans ses petits souliers = To be uneasy in one’s mind; To be on pins and needles. Il faut se soumettre ou se dÉmettre = One must knuckle under or clear out. [Gambetta said this to Marshal MacMahon during the crisis of 16th May 1875.] S’emporter comme une soupe au lait = To fly into a passion without warning; To be of a very hasty temper. TrempÉ comme une soupe = Wet to the skin; Dripping wet. C’est un marchand de soupe. (See Marchand.) Sourd comme un pot = As deaf as a post. *Vous faites la sourde oreille = None so deaf as those who will not hear. Frapper comme un sourd = To beat unmercifully. Il court un bruit sourd = A rumour is being whispered. Ils ont recours À des menÉes sourdes = They have recourse to underhand dealings. Il fait ses coups À la sourdine = He acts secretly, in an underhand manner. Cela me sourit assez = I rather like this. *Souris qui n’a qu’un trou est bientÔt prise = It is good to have more than one string to one’s bow. *On entendrait trotter une souris (or, voler une mouche) = One could hear a pin drop. Elle est ÉveillÉe comme une petite souris (or, comme une potÉe de souris) = She is as brisk as a bee. Autant que je puisse m’en souvenir = To the best of my recollection. C’est du plus loin qu’il me souvienne = 1. I can barely remember it. 2. It is as far back as I can recollect. Plus souvent! (fam.) = Not if I know it! Twice! Casser du sucre sur la tÊte de quelqu’un (pop.) = To speak ill of any one in his absence. Cette maladie peut avoir des suites = That illness may have serious consequences. Il n’a pas d’esprit de suite = He is not consistent; He keeps at nothing long. Suite (of a serial story or article) = Continuation; Continued. [Also: Suite et fin = Conclusion.
À suivre = To be continued. La suite au prochain numÉro = To be continued in our next.] Être sujet À l’heure = To be tied to time. Être sujet À caution = Not to be relied upon. (See Caution.) C’est un mauvais sujet = He is a scamp, “a bad lot.” [This is used in speaking of tiresome children, of flighty young men, and of real rogues.] Petit mauvais sujet! = Little rascal! (to children). Être au supplice = To be on thorns. Pour sÛr! (fam.) = I should think so, indeed!
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