manger sur le pouce

Manger sur le pouce (‘To eat on the thumb’) is an expression that appeared in the 19th century. It refers to how hard your thumb works when handling a knife and slices of bread—in other words, when having a quick meal rather than sitting at a restaurant table. These days it tends to mean eating a burger and fries.

The first McDonald’s opened in France in 1972 and today there are 1,485 ‘Macdo’ outlets and they are usually pretty busy! In fact, France is the chain’s most profitable country outside of the United States. Why? It stays open until late at night and offers free WIFI; many serve beer; and most important of all, it’s cheap.