Animal Idioms
The magpie got his hair (He's bald.)
Dog an cat, friends tomorrow
Dogs are deaf when they please
A muddy sheep often tries to rub shoulders with others
Hares are numerous near a tied dog
A donkey must graze where it's been tied up
A heron which neglects a little fish gets a snail for dinner
To understand pig instead of crow (Not understand what is said.)
More than one prefer boneless fish
You won't know your cat before having pulled its tail, you won't know your dog before having pulled its nose
One must not throw stones to any barking dog
Talk of the wolf, its tails appears
Every dog is master in its house
What's the use of a good cow if it spills the milk with a kick?
Never seen a mouse's nest in a cat's ear
Sand through an eel-net
A scalded dog is afraid of lukewarm water
The more shepherds there are, the less well the cows are looked after.
Children
The ship which doesn't obey the rudder Will surely obey the reef
Whoever doesn't know how to obey doesn't know how to command
Before being ripe, the best fruit are tart, bitter and acrid
A child who follows stupid people seldom stays without learning some of their stupidity
Bad wheat comes from bad soil
Their shoes are made before their feet
Not in sand and shingle does one teach the ducks how to swim
By means of beating one gets only sour cream
It is easier to bend a sapling than straighten a tree
Death
Wind, everything is wind! One must die
Would you like a nice death? — Live well
The big parish bell is dumb when the poor are sent to the ground
Farming
From time immemorial, the ploughman eats a load of soil every year
The weather makes the hay, people do not
The soil is old but it is not stupid
One always finds that his neighbor's harvest is better than his
Green algae and black manure do the ploughman good, black algae and grey manure Leads the ploughman to beg
The whole world lives upon the ploughman's arm
Hurt the soil, you won't get anything from it
Worst thing that can happen to a farmer: hearing rooster his landlord (The landlord's house should not be too close to the farm)
Do not pick for tenant neither kin nor traitor
Whoever skins his ram this year won't have to shear it next year
Whoever walks with his shoes on his wheat goes barefoot to beg
Food
The leather will pay (They will suffer from too much food)
A starving person never found a bad piece of bread
Stealing one's time and one's food: worst sin in the world
An empty bag can't stay up; nothing can go into it when it's full
Three kinds of people lay butter onto their bread: priests because they are holy, gentlemen because they are noble, peasants because they are stupid
Health
Aesoc'h klemm eget kaout poan ► Moaning is easier than striving
Pain comes at top speed, then it is lame and numb when leaving
He's spinning his thread (His health is getting worse.)
Idlers and Jobs
Uselessness is poverty's mother
The worst peg in the cart creaks first
The mason loves whoever has ivy over the house
To drink wine and to cuddle women, that's the priest's duty
Better be a butcher than a calf
The best shoes are not the shoemaker's wife's
There's nothing bolder than a miller's shirt: it packs a thief every morning
It takes nine tailors to make a man
Languages
Nobody can understand cattle's French, nobody can speak horses' Breton
Life
ime goes on and life shortens
The longest life is still short, and the lightest load is still heavy
- Good life always lasts, bad life will come to an end
Love
Yellow gold is divisible, love is not
Love must feed on water and bread
True love is a fire that cannot live alone
Love lies in respect
For a little pain, a hundred little sweets
Wealth goes with the river and love stays home
Luck & Fortune
Step by step, the firewood heap turns to ashes
He walked on a greased board (He is ruined.)
Wealth and honors turn the saints into devils
What comes with the rising tide will go away with the ebb tide
We do not throw the chest into the fire because the key is lost.
Marriage
Marriages from far away call a little house a castle
Do not throw the chest into the fire because the key is lost [Widows]
Every shoe doesn't suit every foot and every woman doesn't suit every man
Un alc'hwez arc'hant a zigor / Gwell evit un alc'hwez houarn an nor / Gwell evit arc'hant un alc'hwez aour ► A silver key opens the door better than an iron key, a golden key does better than a silver one
A hare seen from afar becomes a fox when seen close to (One can be surprised when marrying a stranger)
With the desire to get married you can travel around the world but with the desire to shit you can't.
Money
Money coming from the devil returns swiftly to shoe Paul [18]
Money has no tail (It is difficult to stop it running away".)
Money earned in pain must no be spent in vain
One can pay a rent with pins if there are enough
After the rake comes the fork (People often squander their parents' money.)
Better a patch than a hole
All that is white is not silver, all that is yellow is not gold
A rakeful of straw (A lot of work and a lot of debts.)
Only the down-and-out show their pennies
Ninety-nine times goes the bucket to the well, and it touches on the hundredth (No money left.)
To buy meat from the wolf (To pay a lot.)
Oaths
By the Red Coals of this Fire
-We swear by sea and thunderbolt. We swear by the moon and the stars. We swear by heaven and earth. - The Oath of the Falcon Rebellion.
Priests
The fox is preaching to the hens
The priests don't like to be interrrupted in their dinner, so wait with patience or you won't get absolution
May you be of canine stock, come in if you are wealthy; may you be of royal blood, if you're poor, go away for God's sake
Do not keep a priest's inheritance in the attic (Do not keep it, because it comes from the poor.)
Flies and ants, monks and priests: the four worst species of animals in the world
More wine than wax are spent in religious feast
Every monk preaches for his stomach
Most of the time, the priest says in his sermon: listen to my words, don't look at my deeds
The monk's rule is taking from everybody without giving to anybody
A dead priest, another one in his place
The Sea
Says the sea to the sailor: strive with me, you'll live; neglect me, you'll drown!
Let's go to sleep, fish will come when the sea comes
Swimming or drowning
– “Whoever sees Eusa sees his blood, whoever sees Sena sees his end”
Servants
The good master makes the good servant
The master is the master, even when the topic is his arse
A new servant will work like three
It is not bad to be a servant where the dog is fat
Society
Responsibility
Do not cling to a rotten thread (Do not stick to a lame excuse.)
The strongest man's excuse is always the best
Judging
The lunch pot makes fun of the dinner pot, yet they sit on the same fire
Meetings
The cats is gone with him (He's gone stealthily.)
Where one dog pisses, two or three do the same
Reputation
Good reputation stays at the door, bad reputation runs to the sea
One must be wise and foolish to be liked by everyone
Public relations
The lamb doesn't follow the wolf
Act like a lamb and you'll be sheared
Let a little turd come in, and the runs will come tomorrow (Show weakness to somebody, and they'll ask for more and more from you.)
- An ass doesn't say Graces (It never thanks.)
Solidarity
Cousin when you'll give, son of a bitch when you'll ask
One thread won't hang anybody, a hundred threads make a rope
Secrets
Beware of the drunk because what he knows, everybody will know
The hedge has ears out and in
Where there are three persons, the house has a hole in it (A secret doesn't last when three persons know it.)
He is an untied bag (He cannot keep a secret.)
Experience
The calf's tail has passed trough his mouth (He has missed the point.)
Discussions
- You'll come to cook in my oven (You'll agree with me in the end.)
- He won't kick out further than length his leg (He'll moan until he gets tired and keeps quiet.)
Trade
Presentation makes sales
To put one's hand in the shade (Missing a good deal.)
To put too much goods on display shows that they are difficult to sell
Tailors
It takes nine tailors to make a man
Who says tailor also says liar’
A tailor is not a man, only a tailor
Listen to me, lice skewer; Come to my house on Thursday, I have three dogs and three cats; All six are naked; Come and make them each a doublet, So that they can go to mass on Sunday.
Nicknames: Spindle-Dealer
Truth
A sore eye cannot see the daylight, nor can the culprit hear the truth
Truth is appalling and whoever tells it is troublesome
Between playing and joking, one tells the truth to many
Virtues
The wolf will die in its hide (Everybody stay with their qualities and faults.)
Reserve
The water is deepest where it is calmest
A tongue's bite is worse than a sword's bite
Whoever is sharp-tongued must have a hard ear and a hard head
Sobriety
People drown more often in a glass than in a river
Cautiousness
The mouse which has only one hole will soon be eaten by the cat
The bushes have eyes
Ar c'hizhier a glev ► The cats hear
Do not throw your old shoes away before getting new ones
It is too late for buying firewood when one must blow on their fingers
Humbleness
The wind blows hard on the highest rung of the ladder
Charity
The biggest thief hangs the smallest one
He's the stuff toads are made of, because he's frightened of being short of ground to eat (He's a miser.)
A good done is quickly forgotten
Honesty
Bless the thief who robs a thief
A lie raises on true as cream rises on milk (Forging convincing lies is easy.)
The one who holds the bag is as guilty as the one who fills it
Whoever can steal a pin can steal a donkey
When there is fire there is a thief too
It is better to drink the water of a friend than to drink the wine of a traitor.
Patience
Eels are caught at night (Late is good sometimes)
A rolling little cart covers land, a running little cart breaks
Wisdom
Good horses whatever their colour, good people whatever their country
No saint was ever praised in his parish
Praising bad people is throwing mud to good people
With the most beautiful singing, the bird is best caged up (Beware of the flatterers.)
After the harp, the fiddle (From one pleasure to another.)
There is no mountain without downward slope
It's not the big horses that bring the oats to the market (The biggest is not always the strongest.)
Desire is not possession
One swallow doesn't make a summer, nor does one gale make a winter
Whoever cheats with pins will cheat with crowns
When the bread is eaten, i is hard to pay for it
The tears that flow are bitter, but more bitter are those that do not flow.
The Lethan threatens when he hits.
Women
Nice clothes and lace seldom hide saintliness
The world would be so silent without the wine and the women
No beech tree will grow in her mouth (She's a chatterbox.)
She has seen the fangs of the wolf (No longer a virgin)
Work
The soothsayer earns his food, the worker does not
Whoever doesn't dry his shovel must dry his brow
No food comes to the sleeping fox
The carpenter seldom works without material
He is good at putting pins to the cows' arses (At doing things the wrong way round.)
Sunday work, worthless work
To work like a shitting cow at night (To botch the work.)
To work like a topped hen (Do do unfinished work.)
To go to fetch water with a basket (To do useless work.)
To go to fetch apples in the oak (To lack experience.)
The cows die from hunger while waiting for the grass to grow
When building a house, put a roof on it; when making a scythe, put a handle to it (One must finish the work.)
When the devil tried to straighten his mother's leg, he broke it in two pieces (It's better to let well alone.)
A nag often eats as much as a good horse
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