# péter les plombs



## Winsome

*Moderator note:*

* Several threads have been merged to create this one.*​ 

Hi,

Could someone possibly help with the translation of:

qui peuvent alors péter les plombs

thanks!


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## DDT

I'd suggest "to freak out"

DDT


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## marat

I think we would say "to hit the roof" or "to flip out", but our English equivalents don't seem have the same force as in French.
 We'd have to add an expletive I guess, as in: "I hit the *#@&%$!! roof." Is that fair to say? ((ie.frigging or something stronger?!)


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## french4beth

colloquial - have kittens, have a cow, flip your lid
extremely vulgar - shit a brick


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## zinc

"Il (le metteur en scène) pète les plombes avec son dernier film."

I think that's how the expression goes anyway. 

Does this mean something like 'scrape the bottom of the barrel' or 'hit rock bottom'?

Thanks


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## carolineR

péter les plombs = blow a fuse


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## pyrolee

haha, I don't understand this french expression. When I read this literally it sounds so funny. Can someone please explain this to me?? 


Thanks.


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## edwingill

It means to flip one's lid


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## pyrolee

and what would that mean?


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## VIZZ

You can say "Je pète les plombs" either when you've had enough of something (when your work makes you really stressed out for example, when you feel OVERworked and you can't take it anymore), or when someone talks nonsense, when the things he says sound really crazy, you can say "Il pète les plombs" ou "Il a pété les plombs"!! Hope this will help!


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## pyrolee

so does this mean if I say "tu me fait peter des plombs" (I'm not sure if I can even say that) 
"You're pissing me off"??

Thank you so much Vizz!


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## VIZZ

Tu me fais péter les plombs = "You're driving me crazy" (pejorative meaning) I guess


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## edwingill

pyrolee said:


> and what would that mean?


I means one suddenly becomes deranged or lose one's self-control


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## JeanDeSponde

You will also fine_ Péter *un* plomb._
Originally, _un plomb_ is a fuse (when fuses were made of thin lead wires).
So _il pète un plomb_ means something like _he's blowing a wire._


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## VIZZ

D'ailleurs on dit aussi (de façon familière) "péter un câble"...


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## Cellardoor007

i think pete un plomb is alittle more forceful than phrases like j'en ai marre ou ras le bol!


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## JeanDeSponde

Cellardoor007 said:


> i think pete un plomb is alittle more forceful than phrases like j'en ai marre ou ras le bol!


We French have a terrible inflation of words.
A simple "J'en ai ras le bol", twenty years ago, would nowadays become "J'en ai super mega ras le bol".
I think that, within ten years, we won't be blowing a fuse - but a whole nuclear plant...


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## Teafrog

JeanDeSponde said:


> You will also fine_ Péter *un* plomb._
> Originally, _un plomb_ is a fuse (when fuses were made of thin lead wires).
> So _il pète un plomb_ means something like _he's blowing a wire._



well explained, and we also say the same thing in (UK) English > "to blow a fuse" (for exactly the same reason), "to lose it", etc
Péter = to blow, in this case, and yes it does sound hillarious as "péter" is also "to fart"!


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## stanmore

On a atteint un tel point de désorganisation idéologique qu'il est normal que certains pètent les plombs.

We have reached such a level of ideological disorganisation that it's normal that some lose the plot

Is this correct?  I think "péter les plombs" literally means to break/blow fuses but what is the true meaning of this phrase?

Thank you/Merci.


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## tilt

It means getting crazy.
I guess English language also have slang expressions to mean this...


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## Tresley

Hello Stanmore,

It literally means 'to blow a fuse' (i.e. to flip one's lid, to lose it, to get angry).

I hope this helps.


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## sundance02

But can 'péter les plombs' have a more positive connotation as well? I've seen phrases like "gros pétage de plomb à la nouvelle star". So can it mean "great excitement and enthousiasm" as well as meaning to be really angry or annoyed?


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## tilt

sundance02 said:


> But can 'péter les plombs' have a more positive connotation as well? I've seen phrases like "gros pétage de plomb à la nouvelle star". So can it mean "great excitement and enthousiasm" as well as meaning to be really angry or annoyed?


No, _péter les plombs _is never positive. The phrase you mention means that someone got really upset and said it loud.


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## LMorland

Teafrog said:


> we also say the same thing in (UK) English > "to blow a fuse" (for exactly the same reason), "to lose it", etc.


Hi Teafrog!

Just for the record:  *to blow a fuse* is as common in AE (U.S. English) as it apparently is in BE (U.K. English).  I don't think it would be used by people under 30, however. 

When I was in college, a common phrase was_ *to blow a head gasket *_(apparently a reference to car engines?), but I haven't heard that in years.

Other suggestions:
_*he completely lost it *_(actually stronger in meaning than it may seem) 
or perhaps_
*he  f*#k@&* lost it!*_
(the "it" in question being one's cool)





JeanDeSponde said:


> We French have a terrible inflation of words.
> A simple "J'en ai ras le bol", twenty years ago, would nowadays become "J'en ai super mega ras le bol".
> I think that, within ten years, we won't be blowing a fuse - but a whole nuclear plant...


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## gibouille

I am not an English native but what about
Going haywire
going postal


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## LMorland

gibouille said:


> I am not an English native but what about
> Going haywire
> going postal


(Fun to read over this old thread again!  )


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## Pedro y La Torre

I'd say the opposite LM, never heard of "going postal", but going haywire is a common one!


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## LMorland

Pedro y La Torre said:


> I'd say the opposite LM, never heard of "going postal", but going haywire is a common one!


Hi, PyLT!  

To me, the verb _to go haywire_ refers to things, not to people:  


_My plans have *gone haywire*; I've had to postpone my trip 'till next month.  
_
_ My computer is *going haywire*; it's freezing up every 30 minutes no matter what I do! _
 As for_ going postal,_ I don't use it myself, but I'm sure I'll find it on the Internet. 

Okay, according to what I've found on Wikipedia, the meaning is a bit harsher than what I'd thought:





> *Going postal*, in American English slang,  means becoming extremely and uncontrollably angry, often to the point  of shooting people dead, usually in a workplace environment.


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## Pedro y La Torre

LMorland said:


> Hi, PyLT!
> 
> To me, the verb _to go haywire_ refers to things, not to people:
> 
> 
> _My plans have *gone haywire*; I've had to postpone my trip 'till next month.
> _
> _ My computer is *going haywire*; it's freezing up every 30 minutes no matter what I do!_


Is that the rule in American English? I'll have to remember that. I have often heard it used in reference to people myself.

Here's one example:



> Mrs Redwood, formerly a prominent corporate lawyer who was a company secretary for British Airways, claimed that she was left "absolutely devastated" and said: "I think he's gone haywire."



Or here:



> Go Haywire Meaning
> To go wrong, to become overly excited or deranged.



http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/go-haywire.html


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## LMorland

Hmmm... well, it's _my _experience.  But now that you've shown me those examples (both British English, as you note), I'm feeling reluctant to speak on behalf of my millions of fellow Americans.  I'm back in California, though, and will pay attention to what I hear around me here.

Maybe you can keep an ear out in Canada at the same time!


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## petit souris

just to add some other idiom, one that suggests more going mad rather than getting angry:

to go off the rails


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## Budd

In AE we say "He shit a brick" though this is more used about anxiety than fury or frustration.


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## gibouille

Péter les plombs might mean temporary losing one's temper, "crossing the line" or actually going mental, losing control of oneself in a smaller or larger extent

what about "blow a gasket" ?

Losing it


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