T-learning # Idiom
Speak Like a Native

a bad hair day



Click below to listen to the phrase.

Choose the correct definition a, b or c.

a) a hangover

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again. … can trigger bad hair days though ;)

b) a busy day

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.

c) a bad day in general

Well done ! That’s the right answer.

A bad hair day is a day where everything seems to go wrong. (As when one’s inability to groom one’s hair in the morning seems to colour the events of the day.)

French translation

un mauvais jour, un jour sans

How NOT to translate

* un mauvais jour pour les cheveux

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Examples in context

Bad hair days for François Hollande over €10,000 coiffeur bill

French president suffers cutting blows after revelation of his personal hairdresser’s monthly earnings from the public purse

Wispy, thinning and suspiciously free of grey, François Hollande’s boring hairstyle has never been held to much scrutiny, unlike his wonky ties, which have their own website.

But now the balding pate of the French president is at the centre of an embarrassing scandal dubbed coiffeurgate after the weekly paper Le Canard Enchaîné revealed that his personal hairdresser is on contract for almost €10,000 a month, paid from the public purse.’

The Guardian, 13 July 2016

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‘Cryptozoology : A bad hair day for yetis (but not for polar bears)

A study of hair samples linked to unidentified large primates shows they actually came from known mammals

There is disappointment for cryptozoologists who like to believe that big hairy humanoids live in places such as the Himalayas (yeti or abominable snowman) and remote parts of the American northwest (sasquatch or big foot). The first reputable scientific study of hair samples allegedly linked to these mysterious apemen has shown that none came from previously unknown primates.’

Financial Times, 18 July 2014

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Everyday usage

What have I done to upset Martha ? Nothing, she’s just having a bad hair day.

I’m sorry I am so glum. This has been a real bad hair day. It’s just one bad hair day after another.


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