/ʁakɔ̃te de salad/ lit. ‘to tell salads’
French idiom, familiar. To talk nonsense or tell tall stories.
Draft Not yet checked by a native French speaker.
How do people use Raconter des salades
?
Familiar French for spinning stories that aren’t true, usually said with an eye-roll: “arrête de me raconter des salades”. It sits between nonsense and lies, the stuff someone tells you to get out of trouble or to look good. It’s always plural.
Raconter des salades
in real sentences
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Il raconte des salades.
He’s telling tall tales.
Tatoeba, sentence by Rovo, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Arrête de me raconter des salades !
Stop feeding me nonsense!
Tatoeba, sentence by Bernie75, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Raconter des salades
come from?
Nobody has a dated origin for it. French Wiktionary defines it as telling lies or false news and files it under its food idioms, without a story. French Wiktionary also lists salades on its own, usually plural, as slang for lying talk and sales patter, and salade for a muddled mix of things, which is a fair description of a made-up story.
Mistakes learners make with Raconter des salades
Mixing it up with “vendre sa salade” (to sell your salad), which means pitching your idea or product. “Raconter des salades” is about stories that aren’t true.
Other French idioms like Raconter des salades
Spot a mistake in Raconter des salades
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.