French Expression of the Day: Les coiffeurs
Not just the haircare professionals
Why do I need to know les coiffeurs ?
Because you may need this expression when watching sports, as well as when discussing your hairstyle.
What does it mean?
Les coiffeurs – roughly pronounced lay qua-fur – means “the hairdressers,” and normally this exact translation is correct - if you go to a hairdresser in France, they will be called a coiffeur.
READ ALSO Need-to-know vocab for getting a haircut
But the expression has another meaning - one specific to sport. A “match des coiffeurs” describes a game where the substitute players, or the second-stringers play instead of the stars of the team. It usually happens during a tournament when a team has already qualified for the next stage and so opts to rest their star players in games that are not must-wins.
*Onze coiffeurs qui jouent à leurs postes respectifs. https://t.co/nki5H1SLNE
— Raph Chader (@RaphChader) December 1, 2022
The phrase has a few possible origins. The first is from football lore - apparently substitutes used to comb their teammates’ hair during a competition. The second hypothesis is that it was coined by Luis Fernandez, a first-string player who was on the Paris-Saint Germain football team in the 1980s. He reportedly said that “substitutes were not likely to get their hair ruffled” because they would be staying on the bench.
The third possibility is the simple etymological origins of the verb “coiffer” - which apparently has a second meaning that involves “getting the upper hand on your rival.”
France has many other football related terms that come in handy during the World Cup - one is “nettoyer la toile d’arraigner” (to clean up the spider’s web).
READ ALSO French phrases for watching the World Cup
This does not just refer to doing your dusting around the apartment - in football means to score a goal, but such an impressive goal that the goalie did not have any chance of stopping it.
And of course, the next time you are enjoying football and using the expression “les coiffeurs,” you’ll want to avoid being called a “footix.”
READ MORE: Word of the day: Footix
While this was once the name of the mascot for the 1998 World Cup (held in France), the term now has a broader meaning to describe a person who has just jumped on the bandwagon, or someone who is not normally a football fan but has made a show of following the World Cup, for instance.
Use it like this
Les coiffeurs de l'équipe de France ont joué contre la Tunisie hier soir et ils ont gagné. – France’s B-Team played against Tunisia last night and they won.
C'était un match de coiffeurs car les joueurs titulaires étaient trop épuisés et avaient besoin de se reposer. – It was a match of second-stringers because the starting players were too exhausted and needed to rest.
Comments
See Also
Why do I need to know les coiffeurs ?
Because you may need this expression when watching sports, as well as when discussing your hairstyle.
What does it mean?
Les coiffeurs – roughly pronounced lay qua-fur – means “the hairdressers,” and normally this exact translation is correct - if you go to a hairdresser in France, they will be called a coiffeur.
READ ALSO Need-to-know vocab for getting a haircut
But the expression has another meaning - one specific to sport. A “match des coiffeurs” describes a game where the substitute players, or the second-stringers play instead of the stars of the team. It usually happens during a tournament when a team has already qualified for the next stage and so opts to rest their star players in games that are not must-wins.
*Onze coiffeurs qui jouent à leurs postes respectifs. https://t.co/nki5H1SLNE
— Raph Chader (@RaphChader) December 1, 2022
The phrase has a few possible origins. The first is from football lore - apparently substitutes used to comb their teammates’ hair during a competition. The second hypothesis is that it was coined by Luis Fernandez, a first-string player who was on the Paris-Saint Germain football team in the 1980s. He reportedly said that “substitutes were not likely to get their hair ruffled” because they would be staying on the bench.
The third possibility is the simple etymological origins of the verb “coiffer” - which apparently has a second meaning that involves “getting the upper hand on your rival.”
France has many other football related terms that come in handy during the World Cup - one is “nettoyer la toile d’arraigner” (to clean up the spider’s web).
READ ALSO French phrases for watching the World Cup
This does not just refer to doing your dusting around the apartment - in football means to score a goal, but such an impressive goal that the goalie did not have any chance of stopping it.
And of course, the next time you are enjoying football and using the expression “les coiffeurs,” you’ll want to avoid being called a “footix.”
READ MORE: Word of the day: Footix
While this was once the name of the mascot for the 1998 World Cup (held in France), the term now has a broader meaning to describe a person who has just jumped on the bandwagon, or someone who is not normally a football fan but has made a show of following the World Cup, for instance.
Use it like this
Les coiffeurs de l'équipe de France ont joué contre la Tunisie hier soir et ils ont gagné. – France’s B-Team played against Tunisia last night and they won.
C'était un match de coiffeurs car les joueurs titulaires étaient trop épuisés et avaient besoin de se reposer. – It was a match of second-stringers because the starting players were too exhausted and needed to rest.
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.