Provençal expression

vougne lou façun

Character

Literal translation

to grease the manner (the way of doing)

Meaning

to grease someone's palm

Explanation

The phrase names the act of bribing someone with money to secure a service or a favor. The verb vougne means to anoint, to oil, to grease, a direct image of the gesture that makes machinery run smoothly; façun, a regional variant of façoun (way, manner), comes here to stand for the manner or disposition of the person one seeks to sway, in other words what must be greased to make them obliging. The image matches the French graisser la patte, where money slipped into a hand loosens someone's will just as oil loosens a gear. The register is familiar and mildly ironic, used to call out a small bribe or a discreet payoff, modest in scale. It belongs to the vocabulary of bargaining, informal administrative dealings, or favors obtained through backdoor means, always carrying a hint of tacit complicity between briber and bribed.

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Other expressions on the same theme

faire li dos manto keep both sides happy es uno fino lamohe's a sharp, cunning fellow vai te faire leva lou soulèugo away, leave me alone cerco soun ai e l'es dessushe's looking for what's right under his nose es badau coume la lunohe's a gawking, idle onlooker a pas inventa la poudrohe's not the sharpest tool in the shed