French expression: Un de ces quatre matins
Friday July 17, 2009
What does the idiomatic French expression un de ces quatre matins mean? Click the link above to learn all about it, and then come back here to share your thoughts.
More: French expressions
More: French expressions
Comments
I thought “quatre” came from vingt-quatre, an expression for “un jour” = vingt-quatre heures
My guess is that it has to do with the 100 Years War. I read in a French history book that people actually only fought maybe 3 days per week, during this period, not each day. Maybe people had 4 days to themselves, including church on Sunday, to get things accomplished, so that’s where this phrase came from.
bonjour Laura,
depuis longtemps Je n’ecris pas dans votre blog ,mais je pense que mon travail c’est le rasion .un de ces quatre matins est tres bon expression et pour moi c’est le nouveau mot .
merci
Not an expression ofen used in Quebec although I had heard it there on rare occasion and recognized it from when I lived in France. I am a former Québecoise … a Québecois would say ‘un de ces jours’ more often.
As with your previous entry about “dire ses quatre vérités” I just connect this one with the use of the word four in Catalan. It’s the number of tomato (or onion…) plants a farmer will tell you he planted in his garden. You instinctively know there are more than four involved, but who’s counting? Three is a number used to the same effect in older languages – supposedly they count one, two or “many”. And we know that pigeons and other “lesser” animals can count to five. But who’s comparing? Four gets the message across.
I have been reading with pleasure your entries for about a year. This expression, un des quatre jours, reminds me of the expression, both in French and English, un de ces beaux jours. What do you think?
Does anyone know if this phrase is colloquial rather than an idiom in French?
Quatre est interresant mais aussi matin – pourqoui le matin et pas le jour ?
Years ago I heard the expression ‘A un de ces quatre’ and was told the missing noun was saisons, although, come to think of it, this is a feminine noun. But at least the four makes perfect sense.
merci Laura,c’est un nouveau mot