I.

Image

_Cette petite fille est sage comme une image_ = That little girl is very quiet, is as good as gold.

Importance

_Faire l’homme d’importance_ = To play the consequential; To give oneself airs; To be pompous.

Importer

_Qu’importe?_ = No matter! It is of no consequence.

_Que m’importe?_ = What is that to me?

_Peu importe_ = It does not much matter.

_Venez n’importe quand_ = Come at any time, no matter when, whenever you please.

Impossible

*_A l’impossible nul n’est tenu_ = There is no doing impossibilities; No living man all things can.

Index

_Les grévistes mirent cette boutique à l’index_ = The strikers boycotted that shop.

[The _Index Expurgatorius_ is a list of books compiled for the Pope which Roman Catholics are forbidden to read.]

Injure

_Ils se sont dit mille injures_ = They abused one another like pickpockets.

_Vous lui faites injure_ = You wrong him.

Inscrire

_Je m’inscris en faux contre cette assertion_ = I emphatically deny the truth of that assertion.

Insu

_Il sortit à mon insu_ = He went out without my knowing it.

Intelligence

_Vivre en bonne intelligence avec quelqu’un_ = To live on good terms with some one.

Intention

*_L’intention est réputée pour le fait_ = The will is taken for the deed.

_J’ai mis ce livre de côté à voire intention_ = I put that book on one side especially for you (to read, to see).

J.

Jamais

_Au grand jamais_ = Never, no never.

Jambe

_Il court à toutes jambes_ = He is running as fast as his legs will carry him.

[Compare: _à toute bride_, _à toute vapeur_, _à toute vitesse_.]

_Il a pris ses jambes à son cou_ = He took to his heels.

_Il a joué des jambes_ = He took to flight.

_Il a des jambes de quinze ans_ = He still walks well.

_Cela ne lui rend pas la jambe mieux faite!_ (ironic.) = And a lot of good that will do him!

_Cela vous ferait une belle jambe_ (ironic.) = A fine lot of good that will do you.

_Il a les jambes en manche de veste_ (fam.) = He is bow-legged.

_Il le fera par dessous la jambe_ = He will do it with the greatest ease (_or_, carelessly).

_Il a des fourmis dans les jambes_ = He is fidgety, restless.

Jaune

_Jaune comme un coing_ = As yellow as a guinea.

Jean

_Être gros Jean comme devant_ = To be no better off than one was before, in spite of all one’s efforts. [RABELAIS, _Pantagruel_, iv. second prologue, and LA FONTAINE, _Fables_, vii. 10.]

Jeter

_Il jette son argent par les fenêtres_ = He plays ducks and drakes with his money.

_C’est jeter de l’huile sur le feu_ = It is adding fuel to the fire (flames).

Jeu

*_Jeu qui trop dure ne vaut rien_ (Charles d’Orléans) = Too much of a good thing is bad.

_C’est vieux jeu_ = That is quite old-fashioned.

_Ne me mettez pas en jeu_ = Do not mix me up in it.

_Cela passe le jeu_ = That is beyond a joke.

*_Jeu de mains, jeu de vilains_ = 1. Horse-play is not gentlemanly. 2. Rough play often ends in tears.

_Il fait bonne mine à mauvais jeu_ = He puts a good face on the matter; He makes the best of a bad job.

*_A beau jeu beau retour_ = One good turn deserves another.

_Nous sommes à deux de jeu_ = We are even; We are a match for each other; Two can play at that game.

_Je vous donne beau jeu_ = (lit.) I give you good cards; (fig.) I give you a good opportunity; I play into your hands.

_Jouer gros jeu_ = (lit.) To play for high stakes; (fig.) To risk very much in an attempt.

_Cela n’est pas du jeu_ = 1. That is not fair, not cricket; You are not playing the game. 2. That was not agreed upon.

Jeune

*_Qui jeune n’apprend, rien ne saura_ = An old dog will learn no tricks. (See _Jeunesse_.)

Jeunesse

*_Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait_ = If only the young had experience and the old strength; If things were to be done twice, all would be wise.

_Ce que poulain prend en jeunesse, il le continue en vieillesse_ =

“’Tis education forms the common mind. Just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.” [POPE, _Moral Essays_, i. 149.]

Youth and white paper take any impression.

[Also: _Vieil arbre mal aisé à redresser_. Compare the English, “Old dogs are hard to train.” (See _Jeune_.)

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”--PROVERBS xxii. 6.]

_Il faut que jeunesse se passe_ = Boys will be boys.

Joie

_Un rabat-joie_ = A mar-joy; A wet blanket.

Jouer

_Il joua de son reste_ = He played his last card; He was on his last legs.

[Carefully distinguish this from _Jouir de son reste_ = To make the most of one’s remaining time.]

_Il joue au plus sûr_ = He plays a safe game.

_Jouer de malheur_ = To have a run of ill-luck.

_Jouer serré_ = To act cautiously; To leave nothing to chance.

Jour

_Ces gens vivent au jour le jour_ = Those men live from day to day, from hand to mouth.

*_À chaque jour suffit sa peine_ = Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

_Je suis à jour_ = I am up to date; I am not behind in my work.

*_Tôt ou tard la vérité se fait jour_ = Sooner or later the truth will come out.

_C’est le jour et la nuit_ = They are as different as chalk and cheese.

_Il n’est si long jour qui ne vienne à vêpres_ =

“Be the day weary, be the day long, At length it ringeth to evensong.”

[From a poem by Stephen Hawes, a poet of the reign of Henry VII.

Compare:

“Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.” _Macbeth_, i. 3.

And:

Come day, go day, God brings Sunday.]

_A bon jour, bonne œuvre_ = The better the day, the better the deed.

*_Ce n’est pas tous les jours fête_ = 1. Christmas comes but once a year. 2. One cannot always have “a high old time,” but must work as well. 3. Life is not all beer and skittles.

_D’aujourd’hui en huit_ = This day week.

_Il y a aujourd’hui huit jours_ = This day last week.

_En plein jour_ = In broad daylight.

_Il y a quinze ans jour pour jour_ = It was fifteen years ago to the very day.

_Prendre jour_ = To agree upon a day for an appointment.

Juge

*_De fou juge briève (brève) sentence_ = A fool’s bolt is soon shot.

Juger

_Juger sur l’étiquette du sac_ = To judge by appearances, by the exterior.

_Au juger_ = At a guess.

Jurer

_Le vert jure avec le jaune_ = Green does not match with yellow; Green clashes with yellow.

_Jurer comme un templier (charretier, païen)_ = To swear like a trooper.

Juste

_Au plus juste prix_ = At the lowest price.

_Comme de juste_ = Rightly enough.

[Littré condemns this expression as ungrammatical, giving the correct form as: _comme il est juste_. It is, however, almost universally used.]

Justice

_Passer à pleines voiles à travers les mailles de la justice_ = To drive a coach-and-four through an Act of Parliament.

[Also: _Il est facile de donner une entorse à la loi._]

_La justice ne connaît personne_ = Justice is no respecter of persons.