In the article entitled “Florimond, un professeur à l’école de la loi”, I came accross the expression “monter au créneau”.
Les syndicats enseignants ont également décidé de monter au créneau.
The expression “monter au créneau” can be translated as:
To defend one’s position, one’s views
Hence we can translate the whole phrase as:
The education trade unions also decided to stand up and defend their position.
The Spanish expression “Tener mucha cara” means:
To have a lot of nerve
Hence the phrase:
Ese chico tiene mucha cara, y no le da verguenza lo que hace
Could be translated as:
That boy has some nerve and is not ashamed of what he does
Whilst watching the French news (TF1), I came across the expression “se faire la belle” in a news item in which a man escaped from prison in Belgium with the aid of a hijacked helicopter.
“Se faire la belle” means:
Réussir à fuir, s’évader
We can translate that as:
To run away, to do a runner, to escape
We can make an example headline using the phrase.
Un prisonnier en Belgique s’est fait la belle aujourd’hui après un enlèvement spectaculaire en helicoptère de son prison d’haute sécurité où il était incarcéré.
In the article entitled Le difficile dialogue du candidat avec la banlieue I came across the expression “attendre au tournant”.
Il était attendu au tournant
The expression “attendre au tournant” means:
To lie in wait, to catch somone out
The sentence above can be translated as:
They had been lying in wait for him.
In the article entitled La délire de la jungle, I came across the expression “sans crier gare”.
Des ânes traversent sans crier gare.
The expression “crier gare” means to shout out a warning to somebody. Hence the epxression “sans crier gare” means:
Without warning, out of the blue, unexpectedly
Hence we can translate the whole sentence as:
Donkeys cross unexpectedly.
In the article entitled Haro sur une bio de Dolto signée Daniela Lumbroso, I came across the expression “prendre quelque chose pour argent comptant”.
J’ai pris pour argent comptant ce qu’elle dit qu’elle a accompli dans sa vie.
The expression “prendre quelque chose pour argent comptant” means:
Accept something at face value, in good faith
Hence we can translate the sentence as:
I accepted what she said she had achieved in her life in good faith.