Literal translation
to have sea urchins in one's pockets
Meaning
to be stingy
Explanation
This expression describes stinginess through an image drawn from the seaside. Agué (to have) d'óussin (sea urchins) dins lei pocho (in one's pockets) builds a concrete and painful scene : the sea urchin, covered in spines, injures anyone who touches it carelessly. A person with sea urchins in their pockets would therefore hesitate to reach in, delaying the moment of paying or giving, which perfectly captures the miser's attitude, reluctant to take out their money. The image belongs to a family of expressions found in several Romance languages around the same idea of a sharp or hostile object lodged in a pocket to signal reluctance to spend, the Provençal version choosing the sea urchin, a familiar creature of the Mediterranean coast, over some other spiny object. The register is familiar and vivid, used to lightly mock someone known for their tightfistedness, without real hostility, in the spirit of a joke, with no serious reproach.