"Almost" doesn't count

Le canapé entre presque dans la voiture // The sofa almost fits into the car

Today, another delightful phrase from Duolingo.

Everybody who ever moved house knows how frustrating it is when things almost, but not quite, fit into other things.

Here is the cat, helping his friend (on the right) to move house (déménager). His friend feels rather sorry she has asked for this small favour.

Judging by the general fit and by one ear sticking out, the pictured vehicle must be Fiat 500 with a sunroof.

Il avait traduit un dictionnaire

Il avait traduit un dictionnaire // He had translated a dictionary

Today, another delightfully silly phrase from Duolingo: Il avait traduit un dictionnaire // He had translated a dictionary (I ask you!).

I mean, ok, you can just about imagine why would anybody want to translate a dictionary, and the cat clearly had done it. And here he is, at a book signing (séance de dédicace) and everything. Well done, that cat.

Un homme sans poil, c’est comme un jardin sans fleur

Un homme sans poil, c’est comme un jardin sans fleur. //
A man without body hair is like a garden without flowers.

Today, let’s take another delightfully silly phrase from Duolingo. “Poil” can be much more decently translated to simply “hair”, and in fact this is the version Google Translate insists on. But, apparently, it is a “saying” and it’s not the head hair what we are talking about here.

Duolingo discussion currently have another cute example of a similar (sort of) phrase in Turkish — “A man without belly, is like a house without balcony” :)

The cat is not so very sure about validity of this statement though. I mean, flowers he likes, but that furry patch... he needs to think about it just a bit more.

Pictures related to gardens and flowers @ Shutterstock.

La femme boit avant le cheval

pour la femme, pour le cheval // for the woman, for the horse

This time, an illustration for another delightfully silly (and horsey) phrase from Duolingo : "La femme boit avant le cheval" - "The woman drinks before the horse".

I don't know who is thinking up these phrases, but I suspect they occasionally get bored and introduce something nonsensical just to amuse themselves. 

Kind of reminds me of an old student joke : "А электрод я взял деревянный, потому что этот диплом все равно никто читать не будет." - "I used a wooden electrode since no-one gonna read this thesis anyway". I don't know how international it is, maybe it is a part of the students' lore everywhere.