Meaning: to turn up at a very awkward moment, to be completely irrelevant
Literal translation: to arrive like a hair on soup
Notes: I have mixed feelings about the French expression arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe. The visual image is great when you’re referring to someone arriving at a bad time – after all, is there ever a good time to find a hair in your soup? But I find the second meaning a little odd. It seems to me that saying something irrelevant, like a non sequitur, is more like finding a hammer in your make-up kit – it has no purpose there, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. A hair in your soup, though, isn’t just pointless but also downright yucky.
Example:
J’étais en train d’imiter mon chef quand il est arrivé comme un cheveu sur la soupe.
I was doing an impersonation of my boss when he showed up.
J’étais en train d’imiter mon chef quand il est arrivé comme un cheveu sur la soupe.
I was doing an impersonation of my boss when he showed up.
Mon École-French School 