« 40% », Quiz 9: j’pète les plombs

The above audio sample and transcription is from Aya Nakamura’s “40%”. Songwriters: Aya Danioko 40% lyrics © Warner Chappell Music France, Soc Sony ATV Allegro Music Publishing France, Blue Sky Publishing, Perspective Productions, Label 67, Universal Music Publishing Group. We do not own the content, we are using it for educational purposes. Listen to the entire song here.

I’ll send you packing

This title may sound familiar because we heard it before, way back in Lesson 1.

Back in that lesson we saw Aya translate this as “I’ll brush you off”. Here in the lyrics in English she translates it as “I’ll send you packing”. Could be that we’ve gotten further in the song, he wasn’t taking notice to th e”brush off” and now it’s time to be a bit more firm.

Or it could be that like any great slang, the meaning is most likely in its interpretation. And for any great song lyrics, the meaning is in the artist’s mind. We may never know. While that’s the esoteric thought, the truth is the two different English expressions aren’t all that different.

The clip has a ton of repetition, I like this for figuring out how she says things. While I obviously don’t want to sound like Aya, but it’s fun to try to piece together what she’s saying, and then struggle through what she means.

I’m sure French people argue about what she’s saying in each phrase. My goal is just to be apart of those arguments.

How much of this snippet are you understanding?
What’s your favorite part about this?

I struggle with hearing individual words in English songs, in my native tongue. It takes a couple listens to really get it..

The snippet in English

Find a translation of this snippet here, how much of this did you hear?

The above text from Aya Nakamura’s Youtube channel. Source. Songwriters: Aya Danioko 40% lyrics © Warner Chappell Music France, Soc Sony ATV Allegro Music Publishing France, Blue Sky Publishing, Perspective Productions, Label 67, Universal Music Publishing Group

What does “j’pète les plombs” mean?

“J’pète les plombs” is a French phrase that can be translated to “I’m flipping out” or “I’m losing my mind” in English.

It is an idiomatic expression that is used to indicate that someone is losing control of their emotions or their behavior, usually due to a high level of stress, anger, or frustration. The phrase “pète les plombs” is a vulgar and colloquial expression, it’s not appropriate to use it in formal or polite settings.

The word “pète” is a vulgar way to say “burst” or “explode”, and “les plombs” can be translated as “the fuses” or “the circuit breakers” it refers to the idea of something breaking down or malfunctioning. Together, the phrase implies that someone is losing control of their emotions or their behavior as if they were a machine that broke down.

For example:

• “Il m’a menti, j’pète les plombs” which means “He lied to me, I’m flipping out.”
• “J’ai raté mon examen, j’pète les plombs” which means “I failed my exam, I’m losing my mind.”

It is a vulgar and colloquial expression, it’s not appropriate to use it in formal or polite settings, it’s used to indicate that someone is losing control of their emotions or their behavior, usually due to a high level of stress, anger, or frustration.Regenerate

What words did you look up in this snippet?

This is the chorus, I looked up these words before in this post:

Tu kiffes

timiniks

fais doucement

j’pète les plombs – literally to blow a fuse, lose one’s mind, lose reason.

What did you love about this?

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