When, on the continent, one looks for a needle, the Corsicans look for a grain of orobe, and when one looks for it in the hay, they seek it in the flour, and in the Antilles in the tar.
It will be understood, it is the Corsican version of "
Looking for a needle in a haystack
".
What is an orobe grain?
The Corsicans also use this expression - with a grain of orobe in the flour - when a clever one does not allow himself to be easily taken, and one tries in vain to prove that he is guilty.
Plant of the leguminous family, living in temperate regions, the orobe is a “
leguminous plant whose root bears tubers which are suitable for eating.
Several botanists make it masculine: bastard orobe, shop orobe, kind of lens.
»(Le Littré.)
Extract from
The most beautiful expressions of our regions
.
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