As the French say...

Again, not a very exciting day (the highlight was when my hepatocyte growth factor arrived by Fed Ex a day earlier than anticipated) so I'll amaze and delight you with some more amusing French expressions. I find that writing these things down helps me remember them better, too.

"appuyer sur le champignon": means literally "to push on the mushroom" but is used to say "step on the gas" or "speed up" while driving a car. I guess you could say there is some similarity between a gas pedal and a mushroom (for insance, they both have a stem and a top)...

Also when you're hand falls asleep after you lean on it too long, instead of saying that you have "pins and needles", the French expression is "avoir des fourmis"....literally, "to have some ants". Makes sense.

Also, the "wave" at sporting events (in a stadium where successive sections of people stand up and sit down to create a wave-like effect....ah, what the hell am I describing this for? You all damn know what "the wave" is!) is called the "Ola" in French. Wikipedia.org claims that although the origin of "the wave" is still controversial, many believe it began under the direction of professional mascot Krazy George Henderson, then of the Oakland A's baseball team in the early 1980s. I swear I'm not making this up.