k&k learn french 67 -
avoir le cul bordé de nouilles
"Avoir le cul bordé de nouilles" is apparently not as bad as it sounds in French, as you'll find out in show 67, and it actually means to be lucky!
Literal translation
To have the ass lined with noodles
English equivalent
To be extremely lucky
To be a lucky bastard / bugger
To be a lucky git
To be a lucky devil
To be a lucky duck
To be sitting pretty
To strike it lucky
To luck out
French equivalent
Avoir beaucoup de chance
Avoir de la chance
Avoir du cul
Avoir du bol
Avoir du pot
Avoir de la chatte
Avoir de la veine
Avoir de la moule
Être veinard
Avoir la baraka
Frog's phrase
Brigitte m'a annoncé qu'elle avait gagné au loto, et en plus qu'elle avait trouvé un billet de 500 euros par terre! Oh, elle a vraiment le cul bordé de nouilles!
Translation
Brigitte told me that she won the lottery, and what's more that she found a 500 euro note on the ground! She's really darn lucky!
Listen to our explanation of the phrase :
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I think I would never use that expression. Actually I first heard it on TV by the "guignols de l'info" in 1997 when Jospin came to power and the economy boomed.
Avoir de la chatte is very vulgar in my ears, I would never use it
Avoir de la moule, sounds less vulgar but it still refers to the same think as chatte.
I did heard them, but wouldn't probably really use them, and I would think they are "men only expression" as in "he so lucky to have so many women"
as for baraka, it has come nuance like being lucky for a long time. As in "pour réussir en politique il faut avoir la baraka" you need to be lucky your life long.
Since I'm totally vulgar and rude, I'm using "avoir de la chatte" and "avoir de la moule" a lot when I'm with my French friends.
Avoir le cul bordé de nouilles was actually one of my father's favorite quote, and so I'm very accustomed to it, and I quite like it :)
And Daniel is right, "moule" acutally refers to the same as "chatte", I leave it to your imagination... and I'll go to Léon de Bruxelles once I'm back from Australia!
OMG, I can't believe you used the Ch-word on this podcast, OMG! As if it wasn't enough you added the M-word.
The baraka is quite common among older generations but I must admit I had NEVER heard "avoir de la chatte" or "avoir de la moule".
Queen Mom! Where are you when we need you?