frenchallianceraleigh@gmail.com
Menu icoMenu232Dark icoCross32Dark
<
>
  • Lost in Translation
  • Our Library
  • E-Library - Culturethèque
  • Frantastique
  • Raleigh Accueil
  • Photo Gallery

Add a logo, a button or social media links

Edit
icoFacebook24Color icoTwitter24Color icoYoutube24Color icoLinkedin24Color icoInstagram24Color icoPinterest24Color
  • frenchallianceraleigh@gmail.com
  • frenchallianceraleigh@gmail.com
  • About Us ▴▾
    • Home
    • Who we are
    • Board & Staff
    • Contact Us
  • Learn French ▴▾
    • Group Classes
    • 2023 Fall Schedule
    • Specialty Classes
    • Private Tutoring
    • Class Registration
    • Placement Test
    • French Textbooks
  • TEF Certification ▴▾
    • TEF Certification
    • PrepMyFuture!
    • TEF Registration
  • Event Calendar ▴▾
    • Upcoming Events
    • Club Ados
    • 2023 Haiku Contest
    • Newsletters
    • 140th Anniversary of Alliance Française
  • Membership ▴▾
    • Become a Member
    • Volunteer
  • Donate ▴▾
  • Resources ▴▾
    • Lost in Translation
    • Our Library
    • E-Library - Culturethèque
    • Frantastique
    • Raleigh Accueil
    • Photo Gallery
  • Log in
  • Home
  • Who we are
  • Board & Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Group Classes
  • 2023 Fall Schedule
  • Specialty Classes
  • Private Tutoring
  • Class Registration
  • Placement Test
  • French Textbooks
  • TEF Certification
  • PrepMyFuture!
  • TEF Registration
  • Upcoming Events
  • Club Ados
  • 2023 Haiku Contest
  • Newsletters
  • 140th Anniversary of Alliance Française
  • Become a Member
  • Volunteer
  • Lost in Translation
  • Our Library
  • E-Library - Culturethèque
  • Frantastique
  • Raleigh Accueil
  • Photo Gallery
Lost in Translation Our Library E-Library - Culturethèque Frantastique Raleigh Accueil Photo Gallery
Back
Faire la grasse matinée

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to our newsletter
icoCross16Dark

Faire la grasse matinée

What a luxury to pull a fluffy pillow over your ears while the birds break the silence of the night at the first light of day!  Faire la grasse matinée is one of the true pleasures in life - and certainly the most practiced sport among teenagers.  It litterally translates to do the fat morning, and means to stay in bed, awake or not, longer than usual and on purpose.  In short: to sleep in.

Note that the expression is often shortened to faire la grasse mat'.

The question that naturally comes to mind is: What's fat to do with staying in bed late? Does it mean you'll splurge on butter croissants once you finally emerge from sleep?

Origin

Originally, the expression was dormir la grasse matinée - to sleep the fat morning - where grasse came from the Latin "crassus," meaning fat as well as thick or deep.  It seems that the original meaning was more "to stay a long time in the depth/thickness of sleep," rather than having anything to do with fat.

From the 17th century onwards, however, we find references to women from the high society who lounge late in the morning to "put on fat."  We are talking about a not so distant past when the fair sex proudly displayed their curves rather than hiding them.  The plumper you were, the more desirable.  In those pre Dunkin' Doughnuts days, putting on weight would have been hard work for many who couldn't afford to stuff themselves with fattening foods, let alone staying in bed all morning.   And if spending the morning in bed could help, then faire la grasse matinée would have made as much sense then as hitting the gym at 7am today.  Adding a couple of croissants couldn't hurt either - then, or now.

Examples

Chez moi, on fait toujours la grasse matinée le dimanche.
At my house, we always sleep in on Sunday.

La société, sauvée encore une fois, se félicitait, se reposait, faisait la grasse matinée, maintenant qu’un gouvernement fort la protégeait. La Curée par Émile Zola
Society, saved once again, congratulated itself, rested, had a lie-in, now that a strong government was protecting it. The Kill by author Émile Zola

icoFacebook35Color icoTwitter35Color icoLinkedin35Color
icoFacebook35Color icoTwitter35Color icoLinkedin35Color
See also
Essuyer les plâtres

Essuyer les plâtres

Imagine your friend invited you for dinner and wants you to try her new, experimental dish. She...

Claire BARTHELEMY
September 19, 2023
Aller plus vite que la musique

Aller plus vite que la musique

Imagine you are at a wild dance party. The beats are pumping, the music is grooving, and...

Claire BARTHELEMY
August 9, 2023
Se monter le bourrichon

Se monter le bourrichon

"Se monter" means "to wind oneself up," but we're not talking about winding yourself up like a...

Claire BARTHELEMY
July 18, 2023
Se prendre la tête

Se prendre la tête

This familiar expression literally translates to taking one's head.  But don't worry, no one is...

July 5, 2023
Ne pas manger de ce pain-là

Ne pas manger de ce pain-là

Translated literally as, not eating that kind of bread, this expression means refusing to act in...

June 7, 2023
Tiré par les cheveux

Tiré par les cheveux

This somewhat painful expression literally translates to pulled by the hair.  You'll often hear...

April 5, 2023
Alliance Française of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill
6320 Pleasant Pines Drive
Raleigh, NC 27613
frenchallianceraleigh@gmail.com
More
  • Contact Us
icoFacebook24Color icoTwitter24Color icoYoutube24Color icoLinkedin24Color icoInstagram24Color icoPinterest24Color
  • Site map
  • Licenses
  • Legal notice
  • T&C
  • Configure cookies
  • Log in
  • Powered by Springly, created with 💙 for organizations everywhere