23 idioms
Most of French-speaking Switzerland joined the confederation late. Fribourg was in by 1481, but Vaud only arrived in 1803, Geneva, Valais and Neuchâtel in 1815 (Neuchâtel while still, on paper, a principality of the King of Prussia), and Jura not until 1979, which makes it the newest canton of all. Under the French lies Franco-Provençal, the old patois of the Alps, and it left words behind: a panosse for the floor cloth, a pive for a pine cone, la chotte for shelter from the rain. German Switzerland leans in from across the Röstigraben, so you poutze the kitchen (putzen, to clean) and tell a witz. Then there are the numbers. Septante and nonante everywhere, huitante in Vaud, Valais and Fribourg, quatre-vingts in Geneva, Neuchâtel and Jura. Add the famously unhurried delivery, and a Romand can place a speaker to the canton before the first sentence ends.
Switzerland
“to the seeing again”
a casual way of saying goodbye
A homemade sort of goodbye from Suisse romande, somewhere between 'à bientôt' and 'see you round'. It is built from 'revoir' (to see again) with the noun ending '-ance' bolted on, and has never made it into a standard dictionary.
Switzerland
“to go to the Germans”
to spend a stint in German-speaking Switzerland
Switzerland runs on four languages, and for a French-speaking teenager or young adult a spell living and working among German speakers, usually in Zurich or Bern, is close to a rite of passage. Parents still say it about their children much as British parents once talked about a year abroad.
Switzerland
Belgium
Northern France
“to arrange the cans”
to sort out a dispute, acting as go-between
Used in Belgium, Switzerland and just over the French border to the north, this is what a mediator does: step between two sides who won't speak to each other and quietly patch things up. It carries a slightly makeshift, improvised feel, more a bit of string and tape than a formal settlement, which fits a word, bidon, that elsewhere in French slang means fake or cobbled together.
Switzerland
“to wait for family”
to be expecting a child
A gentle, old-fashioned Swiss way of announcing a pregnancy, treating the baby as family that simply hasn't arrived yet.
Switzerland
“to have the grulette (Swiss dialect word)”
to be trembling all over
In Swiss French, 'gruler' is an old dialect verb for shaking or shivering. Having 'la grulette' means you're trembling all over, whether it's the cold or nerves behind it.
Switzerland
“to have legs of cinnamon”
to have shaky legs from exhaustion
Swiss French for legs gone wobbly after a long walk, a hard climb, or simply being unwell, much like saying your legs have turned to jelly.
SwitzerlandFranche-Comté and Savoie
“to have better time to”
to be better off doing something
Used to say someone would be wiser to choose one course of action over another.
Switzerland
Canada
“good celebration”
wishing someone a happy birthday
In Québec and Switzerland this is simply how you wish someone happy birthday, quite different from standard French usage, where fête marks a person's saint's day rather than their birthday.
Suisse romande
“reversed coffee”
a milky coffee with more milk than coffee
Order a café au lait almost anywhere and you get a shot of coffee topped up with milk. Cross into Suisse romande and ask for a renversé and the ratio gets properly turned on its head, mostly hot milk with just a splash of coffee poured on top, served in a clear glass with no froth in the way, precisely so you can dunk a croissant into it without getting a moustache.
SwitzerlandFranche-Comté
“as that as”
no matter what happens, regardless of the situation
Heard along the Swiss and Franche-Comté side of the Jura, this is the local way of shrugging off obstacles: whatever gets in the way, the thing still has to happen. Someone might use it about a broken-down car, a stubborn client or a difficult in-law.
Suisse romande
“to cost the cat's bacon”
to cost a fortune
This Swiss expression means something is extremely expensive, equivalent to 'coûter les yeux de la tête' in standard French.
Switzerland
“to send to the pinecones”
to bluntly tell someone to leave
A Swiss French brush-off, the local cousin of envoyer au diable or envoyer promener. Tell someone to get lost and, in the mountains at least, you send them off among the fir cones rather than to the devil.
SwitzerlandSavoie
“to be disappointed for the better”
to be pleasantly surprised
Flips the usual gloom of 'disappointed' on its head: you expected worse and got something better instead.
Suisse romande
“to be on Soleure (a Swiss city)”
to be drunk
This Swiss expression means to be tipsy or drunk, the full form is 'être chargé pour Soleure.'
SwitzerlandLorraine
“to make the pote (a Swiss word for lip)”
to sulk, pulling a sullen face
Said of a child, or an adult who ought to know better, refusing to speak and jutting out the bottom lip after being told no. Common currency in French-speaking Switzerland and across the border in Lorraine. It looks like it should be about friendship, since pote is mate in ordinary French slang, but a completely different and older word sits underneath.
Suisse romande
“there is no fire at the lake”
there is no rush
This Swiss French expression means there is no urgency, take your time, nothing is pressing.
Switzerland
“to not take oneself for the stalk of the pear”
to think very highly of oneself
The pear's stalk is the bit nobody wants, and this person would certainly never mistake themselves for it.
Switzerland
“to paint the devil on the wall”
to imagine the worst possible outcome
Used on someone who insists on imagining disaster before anything has actually gone wrong.
Switzerland
“to take a federal cooked-one”
to get extremely drunk
A Swiss way of saying someone didn't just have a few drinks, they went all in.
SwitzerlandFranceBelgium
“round as a shovel's tail”
to be completely drunk
One of many French ways of saying someone's had far too much to drink, this one riffs on the rounded end of a garden shovel's handle.
Romandie
“to put oneself at the chotte (a Swiss-French word)”
to take shelter from bad weather
Swiss French for ducking under cover the moment the rain starts, ideally somewhere dry until it passes.
Switzerland
“to hold one's thumbs”
to wish someone good luck
The Swiss equivalent of crossing your fingers for someone.
SwitzerlandFranceBelgium
“dishcloth, rag, small carpet”
to have had far too much to drink
A line from a comedy sketch that caught on as slang for being thoroughly drunk.