HOME > FRENCH IDIOMS

The French idiom "Tu écris comme un cochon"

On this page, we are going to teach you everything you have to know about the funny expression "Tu écris comme un cochon". More precisely, it includes a detailed explanation of what it is and how to use it in a normal conversation with an audio example. Not to mention the cool things we added like synonyms, dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio and more!

Translation in English

• 

  Translation : You have a bad handwriting

• 

  Literal meaning : You write like a pig

• 

  Register : Informal - Funny

How to pronounce it?

Slow

Normal

• 

  IPA : / ty ekʁi kɔm ɛ̃ kɔʃɔ̃ /

Learn French
with Audio Stories

Try for Free

What does it mean exactly?

Definition

• Écrire → To write
• Comme un → Like a
• Cochon → Pig

Difficult to imagine how a pig would write precisely, but it's safe to say that it wouldn't be very stylish, right? We can imagine their handwriting would be very gross, full of stains and very difficult to read. (Just like mine, to be honest...)

Then, what a perfect comparison for someone with bad handwriting!

How to use it

If you know someone with a gross handwriting, you can tell this person "Tu écris comme un cochon." or even "Tu écris vraiment comme un cochon !" (You really write like a pig!)

But if the person has a clean but very tiny and difficult to read handwriting, use instead: "Tu écris comme un chat." (You write like a cat). Because if cats knew how to write, it would probably be a very tiny and lazy handwriting (between two naps).

In the next paragraph, you will find some variations with other pronouns in case you need them!

Synonyms

• Écrire comme un chat. ("To write like a cat")
• J'écris comme un cochon. ("I write like a pig")
• Il écrit comme un cochon. ("He writes like a pig")
• Elle écrit comme un cochon. ("She writes like a pig")
• Vous écrivez comme un cochon. ("You write like a pig")(More polite)