Literal Translation
Fried whiting eyes
Actual Meaning
A gormless look, usually exchange by two young lovers
Etymology
This particularly pejorative expression refers to the looks that two lovers might exchange. It means ‘to gaze lovingly at each other’, but with a silly, sickly sweet quality that is likely to annoy anyone witnessing the scene. By extension, it refers to rolling one’s eyes in an affected manner.
A fish grilled in a pan usually has its mouth open and its eyes popping out of their sockets, like little white marbles. Keep this image in mind, as it will be useful later on.
First appearing in the 19th century, the expression ‘faire des yeux de merlan frit’ was actually first used as ‘faire des yeux de carpe frite’ (to make fried carp eyes) in the previous century. At the time, carp was undoubtedly a better-known fish than whiting.
In his ‘Recueil de ces Messieurs’ in 1745, the Comte de Caylus wrote: ‘This is where we got the expression for lovers who gaze tenderly at their beloved: they make fried carp eyes’.
At the end of the 19th century, the advent of cinema changed the way actors expressed themselves. Without the power of speech, actors were encouraged to exaggerate their facial expressions in order to better convey emotions.
The exaggeration was such that it sometimes provoked laughter from the audience. In romantic scenes, when the actor displayed this ridiculous ecstasy in his eyes, like the round eyes of a fish in a frying pan, he was compared to a fried whiting.