Literal translation
straight as my arm when I blow my nose
Meaning
not straight in the least
Explanation
This expression describes something not straight in the least, literally or figuratively. It works through an ironic comparison: the arm, meant to illustrate straightness, is here tied to the act of blowing one's nose, a gesture that actually requires bending the arm to bring the hand to the face. The comparison thus undercuts itself, producing a comic effect built on a false premise, a device common in Provençal sayings that use inverted understatement to mock a flaw. It applies equally to a physically crooked object (a plank, a line) and to a person whose honesty or character leaves something to be desired, sliding from the literal to the moral sense. The register is familiar and playful, the phrase almost always drawing a smile from anyone who follows it. The final word, a first-person form of the verb meaning to blow one's nose, does not appear on its own in our attested dictionaries, but its sense follows clearly enough from the context and the gesture it names.