tomber dans les pommes

Word by word

fall · into · the · apples

Idiomatic sense

To faint, to pass out. The apples are not fruit one fell into. The phrase is the ordinary informal way to say that someone lost consciousness for a moment.

It is not death, and it is not falling asleep.

Examples

1. À la vue du sang, il est tombé dans les pommes.

   At the sight of blood, he fainted.

2. Dans le métro, elle est tombée dans les pommes.

   She passed out on the metro.

Equivalents

Marks say how far the other phrase travels with this one. How to read them.

1. near

   English

   to pass out

   The same event, in ordinary speech. No fruit.

2. near

   English

   to faint

   Slightly more neutral than the French phrase, and the same event.

3. near

   German

   in Ohnmacht fallen

   To fall into a faint. Standard, a little more formal than the French.

4. near

   Spanish

   desmayarse

   The plain verb. Same event.

5. none

   Japanese

   気を失う

   The ordinary verb, to lose consciousness. Japanese does not put this in a basket of apples. No figurative equivalent is claimed.

Notes

A proposed link to the older verb pâmer, to swoon, is sometimes repeated, with the apples as a later garbling. This book does not adopt that account. The meaning does not depend on it.

Do not translate the phrase as a fall into fruit, including as a joke, if the point is that someone fainted. The joke hides the event.

Sources

• Standard informal idiom meaning to faint. Wording is original. The pâmer account is mentioned only to set it aside.