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French Expression of the Day: Pile-poil

The Local France
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French Expression of the Day: Pile-poil
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

When something happens at exactly the right moment, it's kind of like chest hair in France.

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Why do I need to know pile-poil?

Because this expression is as precise as you can get in France.

What does it mean?

Pile-poil - roughly pronounced peel pwahl - is a common expression that consists two French words: pile (exactly) and poil (the hair you have on your body, not on your head, which is cheveux). The direct translation is therefore 'exactly-body hair', which sounds nonsensical. 

But it's pretty much like the English expression 'by a hair's breadth', as it means 'exactly' or 'precisely' in most settings.

And just like 'by a hair's breadth', pile-poil indicates an element of unlikely perfection. 

It can be about time, say if something happening exactly at the right moment. If you were invited to a dinner party at 8pm and arrive at 8pm, tu es arrivée pile-poil à l'heure - you arrived right on time.

But it can also be that something is a perfect physical fit: la télé est rentrée pile-poil dans la porte - the telly fit through the door by a hair's breadth.

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Often it will be combined with the verb tomber (to fall): ça tombe pile-poil au bon moment means something occurred at the perfect moment.

It's a somewhat colloquial expression, and sometimes it will be shortened to just pile. If you are looking for some synonyms for this expression, you might say précisément which means precisely, or exactement which means exactly.

(Pile can also mean 'battery', but that's in a different context.)

Use it like this

Elle est arrivée pile-poil au moment où on allait partir. - She arrived exactly when we were going to leave.

On a déménagé tout seuls donc ça a pris tout le week-end. Heureusement le frigo passait pile-poil dans les escaliers ! - We moved house on our own so it took all weekend. Luckily the fridge fitted up the staircase by a hair's breadth!

S'ils annoncent un nouveau confinement pile-poil au moment qu'il commence à faire beau. - If they announce another lockdown the moment the weather gets better.

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