pansement jambe de bois

[KirstyWeston]

I've come across this expression – I'm assuming it's an idiomatic expression – but not sure I've understood the nuances and can't think of the English equivalent – something about sticking a plaster on ? but I don't think it's a wooden leg and clearly this means more than just that it's pointless but rather than it's insufficeitn. It comes up in a feature about a baker who is rather 'old school'. Here's the sentence (it's part of a Powerpoint presentation so everything's in note form):

Etablissement: Boulangerie en cœur de village, vieillotte, propre mais travaux au fur et à mesure (pansement jambe de bois).

Establishment: Bakery in the heart of the village, old fashioned, clean but maintenance work done only as and when (pansement jambe de bois).

Thanks!

 

[abolibibelot]

The complete expression is “(c'est comme) mettre un pansement sur une jambe de bois” (or sometimes “un sparadrap sur une jambe de bois”), which usually means that an attempt at fixing something is pointless, because that thing will remain broken or corrupted anyway.

 

[OLN]

Voir :

mettre un cautère sur jambe de bois loc v (agir inutilement) (figurative, colloquial) be about as much use as a chocolate teapot v expr

emplâtre sur une jambe de bois nm (solution inefficace) no earthly use expr (colloquial) as much use as a chocolate teapot expr

et ces fils précédents (on tombe sur la liste en tapant "jambe de bois" dans la fenêtre de recherche) :
cautères sur une jambe de bois - forum Français Seulement
comme un emplâtre/cautère/cataplasme sur une jambe de bois
emplâtre sur une jambe de bois - forum Français Seulement
un cataplasme sur une jambe de bois
un cataplasme sur une jambe de bois - forum Français Seulement

 

[KirstyWeston]

Thanks bioth, sorry; only just seen these replies, for some reason. I'm going to go with 'sticking-plaster solution', which I think works fine in English as, although other ideas are colourful (and fun to read), there's not much space, it's not crucial and the sense here is of a superficial solution, I think, rather than being something that's 'of no earthly use' (like a chocolate teapot, for example).