Provençal expression

E lou chèchou… !

Character

Literal translation

and the little extra bit

Meaning

and a little more besides

Explanation

This exclamation accompanies an addition, whether real or merely wished for. Used literally, it signals that a small extra dose is being added to a quantity already given, for instance in cooking when a touch more saffron goes into a bouillabaisse that did not have enough. Used figuratively, it instead expresses doubt or disbelief at an announcement judged unconvincing, much like saying 'and what next!' with irony in English. This double use, one descriptive and the other skeptical, rests on the shared idea of a supplement: in one case it is genuinely added, in the other it is mockingly demanded, as if to say a little more conviction or proof would be needed before being believed. The central word does not appear in our attested dictionaries; its meaning is understood only through usage and context, where it names this small complementary quantity, real or mocked. The stress falls on the initial vowel, and the exclamation is always closed with suspension points, marking suspended expectation or irony.

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Other expressions on the same theme

Es de figo d'une autre paniéthat's a different matter entirely Es lou tambour de Cassishe's a chatterbox, hard to stop once started Es pas bèu ce qu'es bèu, es bèu ce qu'agradobeauty is not what is beautiful, but what pleases Es un cuou-cousuhe's a stiff, affected sort Es un remèdihe's a very ugly person Es uno arrapèdohe's a clingy sort of person