ABSTRACT
To punch, to slap. Filer une danse: To bash up, to beat up. Elle m’afile la chtouille: I caught a dose of clap offher. 7 Filer en cabane: To ‘clap into jail’, to put into prison. 8 Filer un mauvais coton: To be in poor health. filer v. intrans. 1 To ‘scram’, to ‘skedaddle’, to rush away. 2 Filer a l’anglaise: To ‘take French leave’, to slip away (also: filer en douce). 3 Filer doux: To ‘change one’s tune’ to a humbler one, to ‘knuckle under’, to become docile and submissive. filer v. trans. reflex. 1 To get into, to slip into. Il s’est filé dans le cagibi: He hid in the box-room. Se filer dans les toiles: To ‘hit the sack’, to go to bed. 2 To get involved in something unpleasant. Il a été se filer dans une sale affaire: He got mixed ‘up in some nasty business. filet n. m. 1 Ne pas avoir lefilet: To ‘have the gift of the gab’, to be a smooth and prolific talker. 2 L’artiste travaille sans filet! (joc.): Things like that don’t frighten me! (This piece of verbal bravado originates from the world of trapeze artists where a safety net is a salutary precaution.) filetouze n. m. String shopping bag (also: filetoche). fileuse n. f. (pej.): ‘Grass’, ‘snitch’, informant. filin n. m. Phone call. Il m’a envoyé un petit filin: He gave me a buzz. fille n. f. 1 Jouer lafille de l’air: To ‘beetle off’, to ‘scram’, to clear off. Quand il a su qu’on le cherchait, il nous a joué la fille de l’air: When he heard we were onto him, he was off and away. 2 La plus belle fille du monde ne peut donner que ce qu’elle a: You mustn’t expect more than is humanly possible. (This statement is usually uttered when a discontented person is being told that nothing more can be done to please him.) fille-mère n. f. Unmarried mother. (A less offensive modern equivalent is mere célibataire.) fillette n. f. 1 Half-bottle of wine. 2 Chausser du quarante-sept fillette (joc.): To have incredibly large feet. (The humour here stems from the juxtaposition of the word fillette with what could practically be called ‘outsize’ shoe measurements.) filochard n. m. ‘Wily dog’, cunning so-and-so. (Filochard is one of the characters in Louis Forton’s famous series of cartoon strips La Bande des PiedsNickelés.) filoche n. f. (pol.): ‘Tail’, discreet shadowing and surveillance. Pas de bile! La filoche, ça me connaît! Have no fear! I’ll tail him, he won’t know I’m there! filocher v. trans. & intrans. 1 (pol.): To ‘tail’, to shadow a suspect. 2 To ‘shirk’, to dodge some unpleasant duty. 3 To ‘put one’s skates on’, to hurry up. filon n. m. 1 ‘Spot of luck’, ‘lucky break’, fortunate occurrence. 2 ‘Plum’, ‘cushy number’, easy task. Il a décroché un sacré filon: He’s certainly landed the plummest job around. Tenir lefilon: To be onto a good thing. filoneur n. m. (also: filonneur): ‘Shirker’, idle so-and-so. (The kind of character who always seems to land the jobs where little work is entailed.) filou n. m. 1 ‘Con-man’, trickster, deceitful character. 2 (term of endearment): Filou va! You are awful…but I like you!
