/fɛʁ la ʒava/ lit. ‘do the java’
French idiom, familiar. There’s a lively party or a lot going on somewhere.
Draft Not yet checked by a native French speaker.
How do people use Faire la java
?
Familiar and a bit retro, with the smell of accordion music and old Paris dance halls. It means partying hard, usually through the night, and is also said of noisy neighbors, or even frogs, keeping everyone up. Past: “on a fait la java toute la nuit”.
Faire la java
in real sentences
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Les voisins ont fait la java toute la nuit. J’ai dû faire un cauchemar.
The neighbors partied all night. I must have had a nightmare.
Tatoeba, sentence by nimfeo, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Ils allèrent tous trois faire la java en ville.
The three of them went to party in the city.
Tatoeba, sentence by sacredceltic, translation by Miktsoanit, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Faire la java
come from?
La java was a popular dance in the bals musette of early 20th-century Paris, and French Wiktionary dates “faire la java” in the sense of a booze-up to the start of that century. Michel Sardou’s 1977 song “La java de Broadway” kept it in people’s ears. Where the dance got its name isn’t settled, and no reliable source explains it.
Mistakes learners make with Faire la java
Thinking of coffee or the island. The java is a fast waltz-like dance from Parisian bals musette, and “faire la java” has nothing to do with drinking coffee all night.
Other French idioms like Faire la java
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?
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