French Expression of the Day: Faire chou blanc
This might sound like a recipe, but in fact has nothing to do with cabbage.
Why do I need to know faire chou blanc?
If you need a creative way to describe making a great effort to no avail.
What does it mean?
Faire chou blanc – pronounced fair shew blahnck – literally means “to make white cabbage,” but its true meaning has nothing to do with cabbage, and neither does its historical origin.
The phrase actually means to fail or come up empty, and it is said to originate from the Loire Valley region, and the local Berrichon language.
The phrase is thought to have originally been “Coup Blanc,” or a blank shot. During the 16th century, a version of bowling was popular, and the expression was most often used when a player missed all the pins (you could say the original gutter ball). But because the Berrichon language pronounced K-sounds with a CH-sound, the phrase went on to be remembered as chou blanc.
After the French revolution and the standardisation of the formal French language via public education, Berrichon began to decline. However, some remnants have remained, like the use of the pronoun “ça” instead of “il” when referring to the weather (ex. Ça pleut to say ‘it is raining’).
Ultimately, the expression still carries the same meaning of drawing a blank, or winning nothing.
Use it like this
Ils ont cherché les clés perdues dans tout l'appartement, mais enfin ils ont fait chou blanc. – They searched all over the apartment for the lost keys, but in the end they came up empty.
L'enquête de la police faisait chou blanc, ils n'ont jamais trouvé le criminel après des mois d'enquête. – The police investigation came up with nothing, they never found the criminal after months of investigating.
Comments
See Also
Why do I need to know faire chou blanc?
If you need a creative way to describe making a great effort to no avail.
What does it mean?
Faire chou blanc – pronounced fair shew blahnck – literally means “to make white cabbage,” but its true meaning has nothing to do with cabbage, and neither does its historical origin.
The phrase actually means to fail or come up empty, and it is said to originate from the Loire Valley region, and the local Berrichon language.
The phrase is thought to have originally been “Coup Blanc,” or a blank shot. During the 16th century, a version of bowling was popular, and the expression was most often used when a player missed all the pins (you could say the original gutter ball). But because the Berrichon language pronounced K-sounds with a CH-sound, the phrase went on to be remembered as chou blanc.
After the French revolution and the standardisation of the formal French language via public education, Berrichon began to decline. However, some remnants have remained, like the use of the pronoun “ça” instead of “il” when referring to the weather (ex. Ça pleut to say ‘it is raining’).
Ultimately, the expression still carries the same meaning of drawing a blank, or winning nothing.
Use it like this
Ils ont cherché les clés perdues dans tout l'appartement, mais enfin ils ont fait chou blanc. – They searched all over the apartment for the lost keys, but in the end they came up empty.
L'enquête de la police faisait chou blanc, ils n'ont jamais trouvé le criminel après des mois d'enquête. – The police investigation came up with nothing, they never found the criminal after months of investigating.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.