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Informal French Expression
| Meaning | to tell stories, spin yarns, lie | |
| Literally | to tell salads | |
| Register | informal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[rah ko(n) tay day sah lahd] |
| IPA | [ʀa kɔ̃ te de sa lad] | |
Usage notes: The French expression raconter des salades is equivalent to "spinning yarns"; in other words, telling elaborate lies. Why salad? Maybe because it’s a variety of colorful ingredients that, together, make a delicious – or in this case, easy to swallow – whole.
Par exemple…
| Ne l’écoute pas, il raconte des salades. | Don’t listen to him, he’s spinning yarns. | |
| C’est impossible, je pense que tu racontes des salades. | That’s impossible, I think you’re lying. |
Useful verbs
The following verbs can also be followed by des salades to indicate how the lies are received:
- accepter – to accept
- avaler – to swallow (literally and figuratively)
- croire – to believe
- gober (informal) – to swallow (literally and figuratively)
More French expressions with food
Related lessons
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