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"Fingers in your nose?"



This is only partly a joke and has nothing to do with physics but I'm
dying of curiosity.

I recently ran across a French-language book on Microsoft Excel
called Excel:Les Doigts dans le nez which literally translates as
Excel: Fingers in your Nose.

Apparently, as I have later discovered, this is an idiomatic
expression that doesn't really mean what it says but is intended to
convey the meaning "Easy" or "With little effort." So a better
translation might be "Excel: The Easy Way." Maybe a spiritual English
equivalent would be "Excel: Like Falling Off A Bicycle."

I reckon. I guess anything you might be able to do while
simultaneously having your fingers up your nose would qualify as easy
(if not potentially messy) but now I'm dying to know where this
expression comes from and I can't find a French etymological
dictionary around here. So how about it -- any French-speaking word
mavens out there?

And take your fingers out of there. 8-)

Paul J. Camp "The Beauty of the Universe
Assistant Professor of Physics consists not only of unity
Coastal Carolina University in variety but also of
Conway, SC 29526 variety in unity.
pjcamp@csd1.coastal.edu --Umberto Eco
(803)349-2227 The Name of the Rose
fax: (803)349-2926