It's all Greek to me! C'est du chinois pour moi :-)

Recognizable by its traditional temple roofs covered with tiles, the pagoda gate, surrounded by two lions, marks the entrance to the Chinatown District.

A welcome message is inscribed in gold Chinese characters in the middle of the gate, also called páilóu (牌樓) in Chinese.

The large pavement, designed by artist May Sun, displays a geometric pattern consisting of a square within a circle, which is an old symbol for Heaven and Earth in chinese philisophy. Also, in the middle (in grey and blue) you can see a long strip that depicts the Chinatown dictrict and the surrounding area up to the Boston waterfront.

Reconnaissable par ses toits traditionnels recouverts de tuiles, la porte en forme de pagode entourée de deux lions marque l'entrée du quartier chinois.

Un message de bienvenue, en caractères chinois dorés, est inscrit au milieu de la porte appelée páilóu (牌樓) en chinois.

Le dallage au sol, réalisé par l'artiste May Sun, révèle un motif géométrique constitué d’un carré à l'intérieur d’un cercle; symbole du paradis et de la terre, dans la philosophie chinoise. Vous pouvez distinguer aussi au milieu une longue bande (en gris et en bleu) représentant le quartier de Chinatown et les environs jusqu’au port de Boston.

French Expression in context / Expression française en contexte

1. “ C'est du chinois pour moi! " (lit: it's all chinese to me!). It's all Greek to me! This metaphor refers to complicated, unintelligible topics to understand. The other figurative expression "C'est de l'hébreu pour moi " (it's Hebrew to me) is occasionally heard . Not only French use this "chinese target" to mean something incomprehensible. For instance, - in Greek : Eínai kínezika jia ména; (It's Chinese to me") - in Russian: Это для меня китайская грамота. (It's Chinese writing!) - in Hungarian: Ez nekem kínai. (This is Chinese to me.) - in Dutch: Dat is Chinees voor mij . (This is Chinese to me.) German, Serbian, Czech refer to the Spanish language while Turkkish people refer to the French langage as an unintelligible, unfamiliar language! Originaly, the word"chinois" served to designate something mysterious, far-away and unknown. In addition, the structure of the language with its different dialects and its 13000 characters in the traditional form, reinforced that idea and thus, created the cliché "c'est du chinois" associated to complexity. In the same idea, the verb"chinoiser" (lit: to chinese), means to quibble, to split-hairs. When it was introduced in 1896 "chinoiser" meant "parler argot". And the word "argot" was related to "jargon". And this leads us to another expression: 2. "un casse-tête chinois" : a brain teaser. Since "un casse-tête" is a dilemna or a puzzle to solve, adding the adjective "chinois" looks like a pleonasm. In fact, it emphasizes the concept of difficulty. But, that's not it! To make it even stronger, French people also say "c'est un vrai un casse-tête chinois" (it's a real brain teaser). In other words: it's a pain in the neck! :-) Bonne journée!