Francophonie· easy· informal

manger les pissenlits par la racine

to eat dandelions by the root

Meaning

To be dead and buried

Explanation

A cheerful bit of graveyard humour, the English equivalent is pushing up daisies.

Example

Le pauvre vieux Marcel mange les pissenlits par la racine depuis dix ans maintenant.

Poor old Marcel has been pushing up daisies for ten years now.

Origin

The picture is of a corpse underground with dandelion roots growing straight through it, feeding off it from below. Victor Hugo used the phrase himself, so it's been around for a good while.

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