clopin clopant

[alan gould]

i just heard the song and looked up the meaning.  it means to hobble along and the only example i saw was "marcher clopin clopant."  is it used figuratively?  example: "how are things?"  "oh, i'm hanging in there."  if things aren't going well could you just answer "clopin clopant" or "je vais clopin clopant." merci d'avance.  

[George Hunt]

It is rather a physically  descriptive expression ,don't you feel ?

I am not sure if it would even be used in everyday speech. That is just my feeling 'I have mo direct experience of its use.

[Grégory]

« Clopin clopant »  is very rare. Its main meaning is « hobblingly » literally. Hence « Je vais clopin clopant » will be first understood as « J’avance en boîtant » (and people will also wonder why do you use that expression). Figurative use is possible too, as in « Le système fonctionne clopin clopant... », but it's  even rarer. 

[Vedas]

Hello,

 it can be used figuratively in some contexts : le commerce va clopin clopant 

meaning that something is uneven.

There is another expression quite similar: cahin-caha: les affaires vont cahin-caha (not going well)

for someone we'd rather say: ça va couci-couça

[George Hunt]

This site?

We get contributions perhaps once a week or sometimes once a month, So "clopin clopant " might describe it ;)

"cahin-caha" and "couci-couça"  are new to me (and quite unexpected) .

[Vedas]

yes you could describe a web site being "clopin clopant"!

couci-couça comes from the Italian "coci cosi" and would be rendered into English by "so so"

You can also say "ça va comme ci comme ça"

I think that "cahin caha" was first used by Rabelais ans is supposed to stem from the latin locution 'que hinc que hac'

[George Hunt]

How do you say "live and learn" in French ?   :)

[Vedas]

It would be " On en apprend tous les jours" or  " je me coucherai moins bête ce soir"  (I'll be less dumb whenI go to bed tonight) or more colloquial je serai moins con ce soir

you also have a variant version: je mourrai moins bête (I 'll die less stupid)