If you share the bed with someone who snores, you know all about having rough nights and getting little sleep. (Get a good pair of ear plugs.)
In French, when you have a rough night, you could say that you’ve spent the night on the clothesline!
I spotted this ad in the métro earlier today. Sorry, the image is a little blurry. It was a bumpy train ride.
The ad asks: Est-ce que vos matins ressemblent à ça? Is this what your mornings look like?
In the image, we see a grumpy guy hanging on a clothesline with his happy-face cup of coffee.
Around him, we read solutions to sleepless nights offered by the business, like good mattresses and pillows. (They forgot the ear plugs.)
But why is the guy hanging on a clothesline? Because he’s had a sleepless night: Il a passé la nuit sur la corde à linge!
passer la nuit sur la corde à linge
to have a rough night, a sleepless night
(literally: to spend the night on the clothesline)
Remember: passer is pronounced pâsser in Québec.
