“Être ficelé comme l’as de pique” is a comical French expression that translates literally to “to be tied up like the ace of spades”.
English meanings include:
- to be badly dressed
- to look like something the cat dragged in
One French translation is “être mal habillé” or simply to be poorly dressed.
Mon oncle Daniel est très fier des ses vêtements mais en réalité ses fringes sont moches. En fait, il est ficelé comme l’as de pique! My Uncle Dan is very proud of his clothes but in reality his clothes are ugly. Actually, he’s dressed terribly!
The verb “fagoter” means poorly dressed. As a pronominal verb “se fagoter” means to dress weirdly. Hence you can also say:
- Il est fagoté comme l’as de pique. – He’s poorly (or awkwardly) dressed.
Finally, here’s another synonym:
- fichu comme l’as de pique
