Funny Pics / Funny Stories / Miscellaneous -3-

Muriel,

An expression I didn't know:

> "One of the most amazing places I've ever been to. This is a definite must see before you pop your clogs."

"To pop your clogs".
Now I know what it means but nobody knows the origin/reason/explanation well.

MurielB a écrit:Gérard I didn't know it meant 'to die"
I have just read that pop=pawn

Northern factory workers, who wore clogs, might have pawned them when they were about to die, as they would no longer need them.

It is an explanation

Thanks for the explanation Muriel.

> I didn't know it meant 'to die"

Idiom
to pop one's clogs casser sa pipe.

Not exactly "to die", "To pop one's clogs" is informal/slang, "to pop off" means "to die".
This expression is used in the UK.

It is mainly a British English slang expression, dating, so far as I can gather from the few slang and idiom dictionaries that cite it, only from the 1970s. The impression is that it seems to have either originated in — or been popularised by — television presenters and disc jockeys.
Clogs were the traditional workers’ footwear in several trades in the industrial towns and cities of midlands and northern Britain, for women as well as men, now rarely seen but at one time almost an icon of working class life. The sound of workers’ clogs on cobbled streets at the end of a shift has been likened to thunder.
The verb to pop may be the old term for pawning goods. The implication is that someone would only want to pawn his clogs when he had no further need for them, that is, when he was about to die. But it’s also possible that it’s linked to the idiom to pop off (an abbreviation of pop off the hooks), which can also mean to die.
On the basis of citation evidence, it looks like a pseudo-archaic form, unrecorded from times when workers did usually wear clogs to work and did often pawn small items each week to tide them over cash shortages. But I have had one subscriber tell me that he clearly remembers it being used in Lincolnshire 50 years ago, so it may be yet another example of a folk expression that existed for generations without being recorded in print.

( World Wide Words )

MurielB a écrit:Is it as informal as  to kick the bucket ?

I'd say more informal, rather slang.

NB: Sorry, I updated my last post while you were writing... I wanted to add information and didn't know you were online

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Hi everyone,

Way back, in the 1990s, when I began to access the Internet, I often went to a Web site the name of which was "Languages-on-the-Web" designed by an Italian and his American partner.
They declared a good way to learn languages was to works with free documents in oodles of languages, mainly legal documents, religious ones, etc.
The guy offered me to take the Web site in charge and make it live.



Learning languages thru similar documents in various languages is possible but with bloody much boring work!



However it's handy to occasionaly work on nince specific documents

Why not songs that you love?

For example, "These boots are made for walking" sung by Nancy Sinatra...

-> the video -

->

Lyrics
You keep saying you got something for me
Something you call love but confess
You've been a'messin' where you shouldn't 've been a'messin'
And now someone else is getting all your best
Well, these boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin'
You keep losing when you oughta not bet
You keep samin' when you oughta be a'changin'
What's right is right but you ain't been right yet
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
You keep playing where you shouldn't be playing
And you keep thinking that you'll never get burnt, hah
Well, I've just found me a brand new box of matches, yeah
And what he knows you ain't have time to learn
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
Are you ready, boots?
Start walkin'

Written by Lee Hazlewood • Copyright © Universal Music Publishing Group

Enjoy!

"These Boots are made for Walkin'"
I love this song!

Apart a beautiful sexy singer, beautiful music, choreography and voice, a symbol of women's liberation, it's nice to learn a language thru songs:

- provided the lyrics are well written - take care about jazz songs as the language is not always good re vocab and grammar
- a song usually prevents the singer from using a strong accent (except if the music was written for them)
- take a song and a singer you like
- sing... the music will oblige you to get a good rhythm, and a good intonation, and a good accent
- if you like the song you'll run your attention on the meaning and so, learn new words and expressions
- in these lyrics, watch the flexibility of English to create new words (though permitted in poetry)... "thruthin'" doesn't exist, "truth" isn't a verb (anyway it's perfectly understandable and an easy word), similarly "same" isn't a verb and "samin'" doesn't exist but so good
- however due to the needs of rhymes and music, take care the French lyrics can be far from the original meaning... take a while to consider the "true" meaning
-

walk over:
» walk over (a few steps) s'approcher (to de); (a short walk) faire un saut¡ (to à); he walked over to her/the window il s'est approché d'elle/de la fenêtre; he walked over to see her/to the farm il a fait un saut pour la voir/à la ferme;
» walk over [sb]¡
1 (defeat) gen, Sport battre [qn] à plates coutures;
2 (humiliate) marcher sur les pieds de; he'll walk all over you if you let him il te marchera sur les pieds si tu le laisses faire; he lets her walk all over him elle le mène par le bout du nez.

(Hachette-Oxford Dictionary - NB: th "¡" after "walk over [sb]" shows a casual expression)
"to walk all over you" doesn't exactly mean "pour te quitter"
- > "And you keep thinking that you'll never get burnt, hah"
"burnt" is not the past participle of "to burn" in American... still searching why it was used by Nancy (or at least by Lee Hazlewood)
- etc

If you're interested, here is the French part.

-> the song by Eileen

-> the French lyrics

♪ Ces Bottes Sont Faites Pour Marcher ♪
Quand tu m' dis que tu n'as pas d'autre fille
Je sais parfaitement que tu mens
Tout l' monde sait que tu me trompes souvent
Alors méfie-toi je t'avertis maint'nant

Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher
Et tu vas l' regretter
Car je mettrai ces bottes
Un jour ou l'autre pour te quitter

Tu mens tellement que c'est plus fort que toi
Et tu n' sais jamais où est la vérité
Comme tous les enfants tu crois être un homme
Mais toi dans ma vie tu ne m'as rien donné

Toi, tu joues avec le feu et tu t'amuses
Mais un jour viendra où tu vas t' brûler
Un autre a pris ta place et moi je l'aime
Et ce qu'il est, tu ne le seras jamais

Et maint'nant, c'est toi que je vais faire marcher

(Paroles-Musique.com)

... and now, the translation.

Paroles et traduction de «These Boots Are Made For Walking»

These Boots Are Made For Walking (Ces Bottes Sont Faites Pour Marcher)
You keep saying you've got something for me
Tu dis sans cesse que tu ressens quelque chose pour moi
Something you call love but confess
Quelque chose que tu appelles de l'amour mais tu avoues
You've been a'messin' where you shouldn't 've been a'messin'
Que tu as gâché ce que tu n'aurais jamais dû gâcher
And now someone else is getting all your best
Et maintenant une autre prend ce qu'il y a de meilleur en toi
Well, these boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
Eh bien, ces bottes sont faites pour marcher et c'est exactement ce qu'elles vont faire
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
Un de ces jours ces bottes vont te piétiner
You keep lyin' when you outta be truthin'
Tu mens sans cesse alors que tu devrais être vrai
You keep losing when you outta not bet
Tu perds sans cesse alors que tu ne devrais pas jouer
You keep samin' when you outta be a'changin'
Tu restes imperturbablement le même alors que tu devrais changer
What's right is right but you ain't been right yet
Ce qui est correct est correct mais toi tu n'as encore jamais été correct
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher et c'est exactement ce qu'elles vont faire
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
Un de ces jours ces bottes vont te piétiner
You keep playing where you shouldn't be playing
Tu joues sans cesse alors que tu ne devrais pas jouer
And you keep thinking that you'll never get burnt (HAH)
Et tu penses constamment que tu ne te brûleras jamais(HAH)
Well, I've just found me a brand new box of matches (YEAH)
Eh bien je me suis trouvé une boîte d'allumettes toute neuve(OUAIS)
And what he knows you ain't had time to learn
Et ce qu'il sait tu n'as pas eu le temps de l'apprendre
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher et c'est exactement ce qu'elles vont faire
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
Un de ces jours ces bottes vont te piétiner
Are you ready, boots ?
Êtes vous prêtes bottes ?
Start walkin'
En route !

( https://www.lacoccinelle.net/246293.html )

Back to songs to help learn.

I insist: don't trust the French lyrics to understand the English lyrics as due to the needs of rhymes, number of syllables to match the music... the French lyrics will just give you an idea

Sometimes, the localization from English to French is just ridiculous as if the guys didn't speak English!
For example "Johnny b. Goode" was transformed into "Johnny be good" (Okey) then was translated into "Eddie sois bon".
Here, the meaning of "good" is "sage"!