Why do I need to know avoir le cul bordé de nouilles?
Because you do what with the noodles?
What does it mean?
The expression avoir le cul bordé de nouilles, roughly pronounced ah-vwar luh kew bor-day duh noo-y (listen here), literally translates to “having your butt lined with noodles”.
Sounds absurd right?
This slang expression is used to describe “someone who is very lucky”. It is often said about someone who succeeds or avoids problems almost suspiciously easily.
It’s definitely slangy, so avoid it in formal contexts, but it’s not explicit or offensive.
The origin of the expression avoir le cul bordé de nouilles is somewhat mysterious. It is an extension of the expression avoir du cul, which means “to be lucky”. It may derive from the expressions avoir du bol/du pot. In slang, the French words bol and pot refer to the bottom.
It plays on the vulgar connotations of the word cul, which is a synonym for ‘butt’ or ‘bottom’, combined with the unexpected image of nouilles – noodles or thin strips of pasta.
But what about the noodles? Some suggest that the expression avoir le cul bordé de nouilles may have originated in the southern city of Marseille, close to Italy and its famous pasta dishes. The addition of noodles would have simply been used to reinforce the original metaphor, adding a hyperbolic dimension to the expression.
Avoir le cul bordé de nouilles also has equivalents in other languages, which sometimes use different imagery. For example: in Spanish, tener una flor en el culo (to have a flower up one’s arse), Portuguese (Brazil), ter o cú virado prá lua (to have one’s arse turned towards the moon) and in Italian, avere un culo grosso come una casa (to have an arse as big as a house).
Use it like this
Il trouve toujours une place de parking devant chez lui, il a le cul bordé de nouilles ! – He always finds a parking spot right outside his house. He’s so lucky!
Gagner au loto deux fois, faut avoir le cul bordé de nouilles. – Winning the lottery twice… you’d have to be insanely lucky.
Elle a le cul bordé de nouilles, à chaque fois elle se fait surclasser dans l’avion. – She’s ridiculously lucky; she always gets upgraded on the plane.
