# What does the French phrase "comme ci, comme ca" mean to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2010, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300 "2010-07-28T12:24:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/1 "2010-07-28T12:24:59Z")
Putting this in IMHO and googling it seems to come up with a number of different interpretations of its meaning in English. Literally it means “like this, like that” in French, but as to the contextual meaning answers vary from being akin to “It’s all good” to “meh”, to just a step above tolerable. What does “comme ci, comme ca” mean to you? ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/2 "2010-07-28T12:27:58Z")
You know… \ like… so-so. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/3 "2010-07-28T12:28:15Z")
Mediocre. It’s ok, like. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/4 "2010-07-28T12:37:03Z")
So-so; not particularly good, not particularly bad. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/5 "2010-07-28T13:00:08Z")
Another vote for ‘so-so’ ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/6 "2010-07-28T13:13:10Z")
Another vote for “so-so”, although my ex-mother-in-law used to use it with a tinge of “meh” as well. ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/7 "2010-07-28T13:14:04Z")
‘some you win, some you loose’ ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/8 "2010-07-28T13:15:21Z")
means the same thing as “medso-medso” (sp?) in Italian. 😃 It’s middling… nothing wrong with it, but basically just ok. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/9 "2010-07-28T13:19:01Z")
Yeah. ‘Eeeh, so-so.’ ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/10 "2010-07-28T13:19:03Z")
I’ve been worse. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/11 "2010-07-28T13:19:37Z")
Yep: not good, not bad, just so-so. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/12 "2010-07-28T13:46:01Z")
“It is what it is.” “You win some, you lose some.” ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/13 "2010-07-28T13:49:54Z")
Interesting to see the differences. Appearantly I’m not the only one that sees it as ‘you win some, you lose some’, but that is still quite different from the majority of ‘meh’. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/14 "2010-07-28T13:50:57Z")
“So-so.” Someone once pointed out that the equivalent terms in other languages is usually a reduplicative: comme ci, comme ca (French) asi asi (Spanish) sa som sa (Danish) etsky ketsky (greek) zozo (Dutch) svo-svo (Icelandic) sa sa (Swedish) asim-asim (Portuguese) zozo (Afrikaans) ma made (Japanese) mamahuhu (Chinese) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/15 "2010-07-28T13:52:42Z")
Comment ça va? Comme ci, comme ça. How is it going? So-so; OK; can’t complain… You need to put it in its full context. Would any of you answer “how is it going?” with “you win some, you lose some”? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/16 "2010-07-28T14:42:54Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “So-so.” > > Someone once pointed out that the equivalent terms in other languages is usually a reduplicative: > > comme ci, comme ca (French) > asi asi (Spanish) > sa som sa (Danish) > etsky ketsky (greek) > zozo (Dutch) > svo-svo (Icelandic) > sa sa (Swedish) > asim-asim (Portuguese) > zozo (Afrikaans) > ma made (Japanese) > mamahuhu (Chinese) Kacha-kacha (Hebrew). ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/17 "2010-07-28T14:43:47Z")
Oh, you know, strikes and gutters, man. Strikes and gutters. I think the closest American response to “How’s it going?” would probably be “It’s going.” ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/18 "2010-07-28T15:13:10Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > Oh, you know, strikes and gutters, man. Strikes and gutters. > > I think the closest American response to “How’s it going?” would probably be “It’s going.” To me, ‘it’s going’ is much more negative. That’s like saying, ‘the only good thing I can say about today is that I’m not dead’. ‘Comme ci, comme ca’ is more like, ‘oh, can’t complain’, or, ‘not too bad, not too bad’. Not fantastic, but not bad, either. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/19 "2010-07-28T15:21:10Z")
Gay. Or up-and-down. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300/20 "2010-07-28T17:00:47Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Gay. Cum see, cum saw? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-french-phrase-comme-ci-comme-ca-mean-to-you/548300.md?page=2)