France· hard· informal
comme que comme
“as that as”
Meaning
no matter what happens, regardless of the situation
Explanation
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.
Example
Comme que comme, il faudra rentrer avant la nuit.
One way or another, we'll need to be back before nightfall.
Origin
Wiktionary links it to the German sowieso (anyway, in any case), built the same way from so (as) and wie (that). The French repeats comme and que in the same rhythm, so it reads like a homemade echo of the German pattern rather than a direct translation of it.
Where
Franche-Comté
Switzerland
Source
More like this
- à la one againin a rushed, slapdash way
- aller au schlofto go to bed for the night
- arriver comme Belsunceto turn up somewhere without bringing anything
- avoir la gruletteto be trembling all over
- avoir les jambes en cannelleto have shaky legs from exhaustion
- avoir meilleur temps deto be better off doing something