Le chassé-croisé des juillettistes et des aoûtiens

Expression: Le chassé-croisé des juillettistes et des aoûtiens

Pronunciation: [leu shah say krwa zay day zhwee yay teest ay day zah oo sye(n)]

Meaning: huge traffic jams at end of July, beginning of August

Literal translation: the crisscross of "Julyers" and "Augusters"

Register: informal

Notes: In France, vacations are divided up into periods: usually two for companies and three for schools. Any time that one of these vacation periods ends and another begins, French roads are packed with travelers in both directions - a situation called le chassé-croisé. Literally, this means "chasing-crossing" and refers to the dance step where the man and woman alternate crossing in front of each other. In everyday language, chassé-croisé is better translated as "severe traffic jam."

Employees have a month of summer vacation, either in July or August. Those who vacation in July are called juillettistes (from juillet - "July") while August vacationers are called aoûtiens (from août - "August"). So during the last weekend in July and first weekend in August, roads are jammed in every direction, which is summed up with the French expression le chassé-croisé des juillettistes et des aoûtiens.

Related expressions

   des chassés-croisés - traffic jams, to-ing and fro-ing

   le grand chassé-croisé de l'été - the big summer traffic jam

   une période de chassé-croisé sur les routes - a period of heavy two-way traffic

   un chassé-croisé d'une conversation, de conversations - phone tag, situation where two people can't manage to communicate with each other


More

• Months of the year in French
• Expressions for holidays and special occasions
• Most common French phrases