White Night and White Week

In Spanish and French, if you have the equivalent of “a white night,” it means you didn’t get much sleep. In Sweden, if you have a “white week,” it means you didn’t drink a drop of alcohol. This is part of a complete episode.

Transcript of “White Night and White Week”

Music

Music

Music

Music

Music

Music

Music

I have another couple of color idioms for you. In Spanish, if I say “pase la noche en blanco,” it literally means “I spent the night in white.” It means I had a sleepless night.

Oh, the French have something similar as well,

As well, a nuit blanche is the night that you don’t go to bed.

Yeah.

And they have a music festival every year in Paris where people tend to have a nuit blanche.

Oh, really?

Yeah, just 24 hours of music.

It’s so interesting the way they’re different in different languages because in Sweden,

If you have a white week, it means you didn’t drink alcohol all week.

Oh, that’s pretty rare in Sweden.

And probably at that French festival you were talking about too.

Very rare indeed.

Call us with your idioms, 877-929-9673,

And send us any question at all about language to words@waywordradio.org.

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