ne pas savoir si c’est du lard ou du cochon

The French expression “ne pas savoir si c’est du lard ou du cochon” translates literally to “to know know if it’s bacon or pork”. English meanings include:

  • to not know what to think

The whole idea with this metaphor is that it’s hard to tell the difference between two things that are basically the same. A French meaning on wordreference.com is “ne pas savoir a quoi s’en tenir”, or to not know where you are with somebody.

Il nous a dit qu’il arrive soit cette semaine ou soit la semaine prochaine, mais on ne sais jamais si c’est du lard ou du cochon avec lui. He told us he’s arriving either this week or next week. But, you never know what to think with him.

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