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Familiar French Expression
| Meaning | to fall under a spell, to become passionate about | |
| Literally | to fall in the pot | |
| Register | familiar | |
| Pronunciation | [to(n) bay da(n) lah mar meet] | |
| IPA | [tɔ̃ be dã la maʁ mit] | |
Usage notes: The French expression tomber dans la marmite, which I’ve yet to find in any dictionary, comes from the French comic strip Astérix.* When Obélix was little, he fell into a pot of magical stew and drank it all, putting him under a permanent spell of superhuman strength and making him forever obsess about the magic potion.
In real life, tomber dans la marmite refers to a person’s (usually life-long) passion for any given subject or activity.
Par exemple…
| Je suis amoureuse de ce pays ; je suis tombée dans la marmite française à l’âge de 15 ans. | I’m in love with this country; I fell under the French spell when I was 15 years old. | |
| Franck est tombé dans la marmite des motos quand il était tout petit. | Franck became passionate about motorcycles when he was very young. | |
| Quand es-tu tombé dans la marmite de (la musique de) Bach ? | When did you become passionate about Bach(‘s music)? |
Une marmite has nothing to do with the British substance “marmite” – they are faux amis. See the literal translation above.
Related verbs and expressions
- adorer – to adore
- aimer – to like, love
- un coup de cœur – crush, favorite
- trouver son bonheur – to derive one’s happiness (in / from)
* Another French expression from comic books: tirer plus vite que son ombre
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There is in fact a connection with the British foodstuff Marmite because this is named after the French dish or ‘marmite’. The label has a little cooking pot on it if you look closely.
Thanks Simon. I was thinking about it from the other direction, wanting to make sure people understood that the French expression does not mean “to fall into a pot of the British foodstuff.” 🙂
If that were to happen one would either love it or hate it I suppose!