chercher midi à quatorze heures

“Chercher midi à quatorze heures” is a comical French expression that translates literally to “to look for noon at 2.00pm”. Here are some English meanings:

  • to complicate things
  • to do things the hard way

Basically, the idiom means to complicate an issue that should be very simple in the first place.

Here’s an example sentence:

  • Pourquoi est-ce que tu cherches midi à quatorze heures? D’abord tu fais la pâte et ensuite tu fais la pizza! Why are you complicating things? First make the dough, then make the pizza!

Here are some synonyms:

  • compliquer la vieto complicate life
  • embrouillerto muddle, confuse
  • tout compliquerto complicate everything

more French expressions

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