Literal translation
to have an eye rimmed with anchovy
Meaning
to have eyes red-rimmed from tears or fatigue
Explanation
This expression describes reddened eyelids, whether from tears, tiredness, or illness. Agué (to have) d'uei (eyes, uei also meaning today or a hawsehole) bourda (rimmed, from bourda, to border) d'anchoio (with anchovy) fixes the image on the pinkish, translucent hue of anchovy flesh, whose colour recalls the reddened rims of a tired or strained eye. Choosing the anchovy, a fish familiar to the Provençal table, roots the expression in a resolutely culinary and Mediterranean imagination, as with many turns of phrase in the language that draw their comparisons from local produce. The expression does not specify the cause of the redness, leaving the interpretation open between crying, insomnia, conjunctivitis, or simple end-of-day weariness. The register is neutral and descriptive, used to note, without judgment and without any mocking intent, the state of someone whose eyes visibly bear the trace of a hard night or a recent sorrow.