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French phrase of the day: Être charrette

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French phrase of the day: Être charrette

If you are someone who loves the adrenaline rush of running right up to the last moment of a deadline before finishing a project, this is the phrase/excuse for you.

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Why do I need to know être charrette?

This is the phrase to use when you are explaining to your boss that everything will be fine, that your nose is pressed right up against the grindstone and you are just applying the finishing touches and you will indeed meet the deadline that is one minute away. 

What does it mean?

Être charrette literally translates as ‘to be in the chariot or cart’. It is used in connection with last minute touches to get a project finished before a deadline. If you're a devotee of Le Meilleur Pâtissier (France's better version of The Great British Bake Off) you might have heard frantic bakers users it as they apply the finishing touches to their two-metre tower of profiteroles.

What are its origins?

It started out as an architectural term in the 19th century at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Like students around the world, these ones typically worked up until the very last second of a deadline, when a cart would be wheeled among them to collect their models and other work for review.

Not willing to release the cart until they were happy with their model, they often applied the finishing touches when it was already in the cart. Author Émile Zola borrowed this phrase in his 1886 book about Paul Cézanne, L’Oeuvre. Thanks to Zola and others, the term evolved from its architectural setting and into common usage in France.

How is it pronounced?

Eh-t-re chah-ret

Examples

Oh là là, désolé, ce soir je ne peux pas venir à ta soirée , je suis super charrette. Oh my goodness, I cannot come this evening, I am up against a deadline

Bravo! Finalement vous avez terminé votre charette avant moi. Well done, you have finally finished your project before me. 

For more French Expressions and French Words of the Day you can CLICK HERE to see our full list

 

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