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My understanding is that "Je ne peux pas, j'ai aquaponey" is a tongue-in-cheek way of saying you won't participate in some event because you don't want to ("aquaponey" being a hobby that sounds absurd and does not exist).

Is that correct? What would be a good equivalent expression in English?

Thanks,

hubbaq
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    That's the commercial that started the buzz around the phrase. Some tried it for fun: En Normandie, l'incroyable succès des cours d'aquaponey !. But you understand the expression and finding the equivalent in English is not the right place. On FL you can ask for an explanation, the meaning of a word, sometimes a translation into French but not into another language. – None Sep 23 '23 at 06:21
  • It's a culture thing. The French tend to be honest but often say things indirectly. In a way, this is the epitome of it, meant as a joke of course. In (American) English for example you could instead just get away with "I can't for some reason", no questions asked, which is pretty much the opposite approach. So at the very least the cultural relevance of this joke would probably be lost. – Stéphane Gimenez Sep 23 '23 at 08:47
  • thank you both for the explanation! – hubbaq Sep 23 '23 at 08:52
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    @StéphaneGimenez In Britain you can say you have tea with the queen as makeshift excuse. – None Sep 23 '23 at 10:23
  • sorry if I misinterpreted what this website is about. I don't know how to delete my question. But thanks again for the comments anyway, they were useful. – hubbaq Sep 23 '23 at 21:55
  • The origin of such expressions dates from Guignols de l'Info, at the time of Philippe Gildas. Laurent Baffie was the good-for-nothing of the Canal+ team and one of his recurring jokes among the Guignols was "Je peux pas, demain j''ai piscine". – Graffito Sep 24 '23 at 09:17

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