Paris is truly magical. We love it for its parks, its cafés, its magnificent architecture… and its expressions! Did you know that some of the expressions still used in everyday language were born in Paris? Here’s a quick overview…
These French expressions, still widely used today, are Parisian!
La guinguette
The ultimate symbol of bucolic Parisian evenings, guinguettes are very popular when the fine weather returns. The term comes from the days when Paris was a wine-growing area. It refers not to a place, but to a sparkling white wine of very poor quality: guinguet! It was drunk in peasants’ homes, in inns which, with success, became… guinguettes! The story has come full circle.
Midi pétante
“Rendezvous tomorrow at noon petante!”. This expression, which seems quite dynamic today, had a very precise meaning several centuries ago. Before our clocks and watches, time was measured by the sundial. In 1786, Sieur Rousseau, one of the capital’s leading watchmakers, installed a bronze cannon in the gardens of the Palais Royal. It fired automatically at high noon, thanks to an ingenious system. A very sonorous way of telling the time, which has remained so to this day…
Charabia
Originally used to refer to immigrants from the south of France, it later became a word for an incomprehensible language.
La thune
It’s no mystery that thune has always meant money. But what’s surprising is that this expression has been used since… the Middle Ages! Amazing, isn’t it?