What is the meaning of these sentences?
J'ai failli venir de Bretagne pour venir lui mettre un pif sur la figure!
Ça se voit comme un gros pif sur la figure.
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1For the second sentence you've already got the answer. The first pif is an onomatopoeic interjection meant to express the sound of a blow, not normally used as a noun as it is here, but the figure of speech is easily understandable to a French native in the context it was said. As an interjection pif is normally repeated twice "pif ! pif !" or followed by paf: "pif !paf !" (one for each cheek?). The use of pif to express a blow is older than its use for a (usually big) nose.– NoneCommented Apr 13, 2014 at 18:32
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5 Answers
Pif is a familiar / slang term for nez (nose) wiktionary.
Ça se voit comme un gros pif sur la figure.
→ it is obvious (literally: it is visible/outstanding as a fat/big nose on the face.)
The first sentence is unclear for me. Either the person has a very small (or ugly) nose the speaker might want to replace (albeit very weird, almost nonsense), or more probably pif is used their in the meaning of "a punch". It might be a contraction of the word bourre-pif old fashioned slang for a punch in the facewiktionnaire.
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A noter que l'expression "comme le nez au milieu de la figure" existe et d'après mon expérience est plus répandue.– DisticCommented Dec 5, 2017 at 12:25
Pif is slang for nez.
“Ça se voit comme le nez au milieu de la figure” is an expression which means “it's obvious”.
answered Apr 12, 2014 at 23:13
Pif est bien l'argot (slang) pour nez. Mais c'est aussi une onomatopée qui sonne comme un coup de poing.
Donc :
ça se voit comme le pif (nez) au milieu de la figure
j'irai en Bretagne lui mettre un (coup sur le) pif sur la figure.
Hi i'm French and i can translate for you to understand but my english is not perfect
Ça se voit comme un gros pif sur la figure.
"It is obvious"
For the first sentence like Stéphane said, Pif is slang for nez(nose).
J'ai failli venir de Bretagne pour venir lui mettre un pif sur la figure
"I'm almost came from Bretagne for punching him in the face"
The second one is an expression for punch in the face
1) "J'ai failli venir de Bretagne pour venir lui mettre un pif sur la figure!" On dirait plutôt: "lui mettre un bourre-pif" = punch his nose 2) "Ça se voit comme un gros pif sur la figure". dans un registre moins grossier on dirait "Ca se voit comme le nez au milieu de la figure": c'est évident.