Literal translation
to gape like a green lizard
Meaning
gaping in astonishment
Explanation
The expression paints astonishment through an image borrowed from the common sight of the green lizard, which often stays motionless in the sun with its mouth half open, as if frozen in contemplation. The verb bada carries both the sense of admiring or gazing open-mouthed and the more concrete sense of yawning or gaping, this latter notion describing precisely the act of standing there with one's mouth open and saying nothing. The pairing with the green lizard, a familiar creature on the sun-warmed stone walls of Provence, grounds the comparison in an instantly recognizable rural setting. It describes someone caught off guard by news, a sight, or an unexpected situation, to the point of standing stunned, mouth agape, with no reaction. The register is familiar and pictorial, typical of the animal comparisons that abound in Provençal speech to describe human attitudes by analogy with the animal world.