Showing posts with label magpie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magpie. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

bavarde comme une pie

Elle est bavarde comme une pie. Peut-être que c'est parce qu'elle est une pie // She is as chatty as a magpie. Maybe it's because she is a magpie.

Today, we learned another expression which is very similar to something we'd say in Russian. Apparently, if you are a chatterbox, you are "as chatty as a magpie", "bavarde comme une pie". It corresponds very nicely to russian "трещит, как сорока" - "rattles like a magpie".

Note also the obvious connection between magpie and pie. Apparently the "Mag" bit come from a nickname for Margaret, that was used to denote a chatterer, and the "pie", predictably, from French.

Aren't languages fascinating?