Avancer comme un escargot

How do people use Avancer comme un escargot?

Everyday French for anything crawling along: traffic, a queue, a slow walker, an old laptop. The verb changes with what’s being slow (“la file avance comme un escargot”, “il se traîne comme un escargot”), and with être it becomes “lent comme un escargot”. The tortoise does the same job: “lent comme une tortue”.

Also said lent comme un escargot, se traîner comme un escargot

Avancer comme un escargot in real sentences

• Sa façon d’avancer comme un escargot irritait au plus haut point ses parents.

  The way he crept along like a snail drove his parents up the wall.

  Tatoeba, sentence by nimfeo, CC BY 2.0 FR

• Le trafic automobile se traîne comme un escargot.

  The traffic is crawling along like a snail.

  Tatoeba, sentence by nimfeo, CC BY 2.0 FR

Where does Avancer comme un escargot come from?

There’s no story to dig up here: it’s a plain comparison with the slowest animal in the garden. French Wiktionary has no entry for the phrase, and no first use is recorded. The word escargot itself came into French from Occitan in the 16th century, according to Wiktionary, which fits the snail’s fame as a southern dish.

Mistakes learners make with Avancer comme un escargot

Copying the English “at a snail’s pace” as “au pas d’escargot”. French makes it a comparison instead: “comme un escargot”.

Other French idioms like Avancer comme un escargot

• lent comme une tortue (as slow as a tortoise)
• se traîner (to drag yourself along)
• à pas de tortue (at a tortoise’s pace)
• avancer au ralenti (to move in slow motion)