Friday 23 September 2011

Things That Everyone Else May Know But I Have Only Just Discovered, part 349

The French word for paperclip is trombone.

Isn't language a marvellous thing?

J'adore les Français et leurs mots fous!

(I didn't even look that up.)

6 comments:

Not From Lapland said...

oh fantastic!

Raptor said...

This is excellent. I was similarly delighted when I found out that "free sample" in Dutch is "gratis monster".

Kai said...

I think Kummerspeck is my favourite amusing foreign word. It means the weight gained through emotional overeating, and its literal translation is "grief bacon".

Wally B said...

or their quaint expressions like "C'est le pied" for something that is really cool. Why a foot I wonder.

MissJane said...

Well I didn't know that before, so thank you. Despite having been a brass player since the age of 10, I have only just discovered (via your picture) that a paper clip on its side looks very much like a trombone (an English one). That is marvellous.

Alison Cross said...

I didn't know that! Really? Is it true? I don't have to go to Snopes.com to check?!

It's so obvious, when you look at them!

Tell us another?!

Ali x