Transcript
Hi everyone, I hope you're doing well. Welcome to this video where we'll look at a French expression in just a few minutes.
I hope you're comfortably settled in. Don't forget that you can turn on French or English subtitles if you need them.
Today, we're going to look at a somewhat funny expression. It's amusing for someone who doesn't speak French or whose French isn't their native language.
This expression is "avoir un poil dans la main." A "poil" is a hair - like the ones on your arms and legs. Having a hair here in the palm of your hand. This expression simply means that someone is lazy. Really, really, really lazy.
They're idle or sluggish, not very ambitious. In English, you'd say "to be work shy."
It's like being shy about working - you just don't enjoy it much. This expression is quite old, dating back to the 19th century. It was used to talk about people who were lazy, who didn't like working much.
At the time, there was a lot of manual labor. The idea was that you used your hands so little for work that a hair could grow in the palm of your hand.
In reality, I don't think it's actually possible for hair to grow in the palm of your hand.
Here are two examples to help you better understand this expression. Cynthia really "a un poil dans la main." She stays in her room all day playing video games and only comes out to eat the meals her mother prepares. She's really lazy.
Here's another example. Pierre, my colleague, really "a un poil dans la main." He never does more than what's asked of him. He always does the bare minimum and never suggests any additional ideas. He's really idle.
That's it for this short video. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to tell me in the comments if there's an expression in your language too for talking about people who are really lazy and don't like working much.
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