Literal translation
To crack the marble
Meaning
to go mad
Explanation
This expression names the loss of one's mind, going mad, through the striking image of marble, a hard material reputed unbreakable, that nevertheless cracks or shatters. The verb peta evokes a sharp sound, that of an explosion or a sudden break: what is staged here is a sudden, instantaneous snap. Linking madness to marble breaking suggests that the mind, held to be as solid and dependable as the hardest stone, can still give way all at once under too much pressure. It is used of someone losing their composure, raving, or more broadly behaving in a wholly unreasonable way, often with comic exaggeration. The register is familiar and vivid, one of many Provençal phrases that favour a concrete, resonant metaphor to describe mental state.