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Why does English rain “cats and dogs” while French speakers “fall into the apples”? Curioo turns idioms into illustrated stories you understand, remember, and actually want to tell.
The ball is in your court
Poser un lapin
Dar gato por liebreOnce in a blue moonAvoir la moutarde qui monte au nezEstar en las nubesBreak a legTomber dans les pommesSer pan comidoIt’s raining cats and dogsDonner sa langue au chatNo hay moros en la costaAn expression, far more than a definition
Every expression has its own illustration, its meaning, its story and its equivalents in the other two languages. Pick one.
French
English
Spanish
French
Common
19th century
Word for word: to fall into the apples
To faint. To go down without warning.
The story
Most likely a slip of the ear. The old “tomber en pâmoison” — to fall into a swoon — wore down in everyday speech until the swoon became a crate of apples.
Elsewhere, they say
EnglishTo pass outSpanishDesmayarse
A fresh gem every morning, and a reminder at the hour you pick — not the hour we pick.
The origin that makes an expression impossible to forget. You don’t remember a definition, you remember a scene.
Register, context and a real example sentence, so you know when to drop it — and when not to.
Every card lists its equivalents: three cultures, three ways of saying the same thing.
Lock screen and home screen
The expression of the day sits on your lock screen and your home screen. One glance is enough, and the days you never open the app still count.
1,632 expressions across three languages, with the interface available in all three.
FRANÇAIS
583 expressions
Including three from Québec, where the language took its own road.
ENGLISH
526 expressions
British and American turns of phrase, from Shakespeare to the open-plan office.
ESPAÑOL
523 expressions
Castilian expressions carrying eight centuries of Iberian history.
Same idea, three pictures
Wanting it all without giving anything up — each language found its own image.
FRANÇAISAvoir le beurre et l’argent du beurreENGLISHTo have your cake and eat it tooESPAÑOLQuerer el pan y las tajadas12 game modes
Recognising an expression and being able to use it are different skills. The games are there to get you from one to the other.
What does this expression mean?
“It’s raining cats and dogs”
The screens as they appear on the App Store.
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That is arguably who it is for. Idioms are the last thing a fluent speaker picks up, because they are the one part of a language no rule lets you guess.
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