avoir la falle basse

To be in low spirits

In Quebec this describes feeling low or fed up, though the same words back in Normandy, where the dialect word falle comes from, mean being ravenously hungry instead.

Depuis qu'il a perdu son emploi, il a la falle basse.

Since he lost his job, he's been feeling glum.

Falle is an old Norman dialect word inherited from Old Norse, first used for a bird's crop and later for the throat, stomach or chest generally. Norman settlers carried the word to Quebec, where a low falle came to mean feeling glum rather than the hunger it still signals back in Normandy.

Quebec