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> Another French slang expression (also testicle-related) for not giving a fuck is “I’m painting my balls with the brush of indifference” If anyone has an idea
by tduberne 5y ago
> Another French slang expression (also testicle-related) for not giving a fuck is “I’m painting my balls with the brush of indifference”
If anyone has an idea of the original in french, I would be interested. I am French and I have no clue what he refers to.
- ggrelet 5y agoYou know, it's someone saying something on the Internet, so it must be true... Never heard of this one either (I'm also French).
- dakotian 5y agos’en badigeonner les testicules avec le pinceau de l’indifférence
- rich_sasha 5y agoBy my pre-coffee count, 19 syllables of indifference... a lot of words to say “meh” :)
- dakotian 5y agofrench pronounce 1 out of every 5 syllables
- baby 5y agothat's how poetic French people are
- MayeulC 5y ago"Je m'en fous" is the short version. Using a longer version is obviously done for fun, and to tell at great lengths how much you don't care. Usually people will spice it up with a version of their own to add to the comical effect.
- WastingMyTime89 5y agoGallic shrug Why talk when you can physically convey the idea. I must say that this discussion makes me somewhat uncomfortable with the centrality of not caring in my culture.
- belugacat 5y agohttps://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/s’en_badigeonner_les_testicules_avec_le_pinceau_de_l’indifférence https://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/s’en_badigeonner_les_testic... Never heard it either.
- ivegotnoaccount 5y agoIt's a more vulgar version of "https://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/s%E2%80%99en_brosser_le_nombril_avec_le_pinceau_de_l%E2%80%99indiff%C3%A9rence https://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/s%E2%80%99en_brosser_le_nom...". However, I found it quite surprising to add such a rare thing but not the most usual things like "I've got nothing to wax" and its vulgar form.
- dirkt 5y agoThat happens when you google idioms in other languages ... you have no clue about the actual usage. And they are usually not one-to-one. German "das ist mir Wurst" is also a lot weaker than "zero fucks given", at least use something stronger like "das interessiert keinen Arsch" (no asshole cares). Also "zero fucks given" in the sense of "irresponsible, he just does it and doesn't care who gets hurt" doesn't really have an equivalent idiom. Maybe "als druff" (just go full power straight ahead) or something.
- rzzzt 5y agoThe last one sounds like "send it".
- ofrzeta 5y agoEven stronger (and more like "zero fucks ..." imho): Das ist (mir) scheißegal ("indifferent as shit" ot something like it).
- poulsbohemian 5y agoYes, scheißegal strikes me as exactly the right translation, and once again there is a single German word for an entire English phrase.
- tannhaeuser 5y agoHow about "Geht mir am Arsch vorbei"?
- 5y ago
- wiz21c 5y agoFrench speaking, never heard of this one. For the sake of human advancement, I'll share with you the one that I hear more often "je m'en bats les coui*es" (literally "I hit my ba*s with it" or something like that; which means "I don't care).
- Go0the0gophers 5y ago
- FrankSansC 5y agoNeither do I and I'm also french. I've checked on the french wiktionary[1] and in fact that's a real french saying. But I've never heard someone say this in my all life. [1] https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/s%E2%80%99en_badigeonner_les_testicules_avec_le_pinceau_de_l%E2%80%99indiff%C3%A9rence https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/s%E2%80%99en_badigeonner_les_...
- notagoodidea 5y agoSeems to be a mix betwen of "Je m'en bats les couilles" and "Le train de tes injures roule sur les rails de mon indifférence", never heard the author version. I stand wrong on the etymology, see below. French-speaking here. It exists as an entry in the https://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/s%E2%80%99en_badigeonner_les_testicules_avec_le_pinceau_de_l%E2%80%99indiff%C3%A9rence https://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/s%E2%80%99en_badigeonner_le... but I don't think I ever heard someone uses it. The non vulgar original version seems to be "s'en brosser le nombril avec le pinceau de l'indifférence" (To brush one navel with the brush of indifference) and found it's origin in the comic strip Achille Talon.
- seszett 5y agoThere are just a lot of different ways to say it, and although this one isn't very popular most people would still get the meaning fine and it does have some attested use, so I think it has its place in such a list. My own personal favorite would be (it's very inelegantly translated) it touches one [of my testicles] without making the other move (maybe invented by former president Chirac, at least made popular by him). It's well known and understood and has the advantage to be vulgar enough without actually making an explicit reference to testicles.
- riffraff 5y ago
- Qiu_Zhanxuan 5y ago"Je m'en badigeonne les testicules avec le pinceau de l'indifférence"
- d--b 5y agoIn the same vein, there are lot of variations. One I heard in the army is “je m’en tamponne le coquillard avec une patte d’alligator femelle”. “I pat my butt with a female alligator’s leg” In fact when you search google for “je m’en tamponne le coquillard avec”, google will autocomplete with “a lobster’s tibia”, “a morrocan shoe”, etc.
- glandium 5y agoJe m'en fustige le cristallin avec un fémur d'alligator femelle.
- ggambetta 5y agoThat sounds beautifully poetic, compared to versions from other languages (mine included). I can see how Monty Python came up with "I fart in your general direction" :)
- bambax 5y agoI'm French too and have never heard of that one. Also, "I slap my balls on it" is probably the translation of "je m'en bats les coulles", but a better translation would be "I slap my balls with it". It is sometimes shortened as "j'm'en balec" or even just "balec".
- dcpit 5y agonever heard this one before.
- AtlasLion 5y agonot the same but "je m'en bas les couilles" works too.
- xmcqdpt2 5y agoI'm French from Québec and the usual expression here would be the Catholic inspired "I'm X-ing myself of it" where X is one of Christ (je m'en crisse), the Holy Chalice (je m'en câlice), the Tabernacle (je m'en tabarnac) etc. Although these swears seem extremely mild, they are actually quite heavy in Québec, even though no one goes to church anymore, because of how dominant the Catholic Church was until the sixties. They would be censored on TV, for example.