les zaricos sont salés

French

Alternative forms

  • les z-haricots sont salés, les haricots sont salés

Etymology

Literally, “the snap beans are salted”. The expression alludes to economic hardship. If one has enough money to afford to salt one's beans, things must be going well.

Pronunciation

  • (Louisiana) IPA(key): /le za.ri.ko sɔ̃ sa.le/
  • Audio:(file)

Interjection

les zaricos sont salés

  1. (Louisiana, idiomatic, informal, as a response) things are going fine
    Comment sont les zaricos? — Oh, les zaricos sont salés!
    How're things? — Oh, they're going just fine!
  2. (+ pas (“not”)) things are not going fine
    Les zaricos est pas salés...
    Things aren't going so well...

Usage notes

  • One might also encounter this expression under the form les zaricos est (pas) salés. In Louisiana French, in cases where the plurality of a third-person subject is unambiguous (e.g. les zaricos, which is unambiguously plural in spoken French), both the plural and singular third-person conjugations of the following verb are acceptable (in this case, sont and est).
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