avoir le moral dans leurs chaussettes trouées

[Vivianneinfrance]

I'm reading a children's book in French. And I have got this puzzling sentence.

Ils n'ont plus rien à manger, pas même un os à moitié rongé ou une croquette périmée. Les deux amis ont le moral dans leurs chaussettes trouées.

avoir le moral = be optimistic
leurs chaussettes trouées = ?
Dose it mean " difficulty and hardship"? Is it a trope?

Could someone please help me?

 

[Itisi]

avoir le moral dans les chaussettes

1. (informal) to be really down, to be feeling very low, to be down in the dumps, to be in low spirits Synonyms: avoir le moral à zéro, avoir le moral en berne

The fact that the socks have holes in them only adds to it. The two friends are also poor...

 

[misterk]

This expression is in the WR dictionary:

avoir le moral dans les chaussettes loc v	familier (être négatif, abattu)	be down in the dumps v expr
		be in low spirits v expr

 

[catheng06]

Bonsoir,

Avoir le moral dans les chaussettes est une expression courante en français.
Avoir le moral dans les chaussettes trouées ne me semble pas familier d'où ma question pourrait on traduire par :
in the very dumps/ in deep dumps ?

Thanks.

 

[Itisi]

They are down in the dumps and their socks have holes in them.

(Crossed with misterk)

 

[misterk]

No, you can't say "in the very dumps" or "in deep dumps." I suppose you could say, "The two friends were as deep down in the dumps as they could be."

But Itisi suggests that leurs chaussettes trouées is probably an allusion to their poverty. Don't you want to capture that idea? Perhaps: "The two friends were as deep down in the dumps as two poor fellows could be." ?

 

[catheng06]

thanks to you both !