Occupe-toi de tes oignons is another one I like, it's very rural.
At the supermarket check-out an old chap in front of me in the queue realised he'd forgotten his biscuits and nipped off.. when he came back he was behind me, so I said he could go back to his place in front... he shrugged and said "qui part à la chasse perde sa place", and we laughed.
I've also always been fond of "revenons à nos moutons" - let's get back to the point, which might be that "l'eau a coulé sous les ponts", things have changed...
Whilst researching my WW1 book, I came across this little gem which apparently was issued to troops going to France -to me it says it all!
I also like “ça va déchirer” spoken about the upcoming local ball, chasse party, or Town gig, when we know it’s going to go off like à Wet banger.
Je m'en fiche, quand meme, tu m'ennerve (my boyfriend and I often say this to each other with a huge grin), putain bordel de merde (said that in the middle of a very frustrated French tour group at the airport checkin who were almost coming to blows with another group. Everyone stopped and was bemused, impressed by my command of French, just for a nanosecond.
One I heard a while back from a local vigneron who is no spring chicken himself is "Il sucre les fraises " for someone suffering from Parkinsons disease. Not meant to be funny but I find it very descriptive. (No offence meant to anyone affected by this disease)
One phrase that I can't get my head around is "mouton a cinq pattes" as it always conjours up an image of well endowed ram
The other way around:
I just taught my French neighbours kids how to say: "You just can't get the staff".
It's very funny to hear them say it all the time when we're out shopping, in restaurants, at their mother!, and so on.... :0)
...or the regional variant Suzy... Bouffff!
Boff!
Desole = gutted (but they really aren't!)
That most meaningless of words - "normalement"
Putain, tu fait chier.........well it's the preferred one at work anyway.
C'est belle la vie.
"Oh là là" because it's so versatile
Exaltation: Oh là là. elle est vraiment belle
Chock: Oh là là, mais qu'est-ce qui t'es arrivé ?
Desesperation: Oh là là, je vais rater mon train !
Frustration: Oh là là, mais qu'est-ce que tu as fait encore!
Put's me in mind of an Antmusic anthem
" a d-diddelley-quoi-quoi
a d-diddelley-quoi-quoi
a d-diddelley-quoi-quoi "....Quoi?
Si, Quoi! quoi?
A well placed "Quoi", quoi?
as per Harriet's phrase, I just love "quoi"... bung it in at the end of every sentence, for extra effect, quoi!
C'est comme ca. Yes, gets me too, another 'blank cheque' approach - well that's it then, OK so the world will blow up tomorrow, c'est comme ca!
I just learned one that I like very much and intend to use on every possible occasion: "C'est foutu, quoi!". First heard applied to the closing down of so many shops in my local town, but handy for all sorts of situations.