The Brits would say we’re thick as thieves, but we’re French, so we are larrons en foire (funfair thieves). Like ass and shirt (comme cul et chemise), we leave France. Over the Pyrenees mountain range, we’ve barely arrived in Spain when we realise that the best way to a friend’s heart is through their stomach, as it were: hacer buenas migas (to do good fried leftover bread/ tortilla dish), or get on well with someone. And friendship in Spain is not just denoted by having a hearty meal – Iberian bosom buddies are often a partir un piñon – ready to share even the smallest kennel. Tight as pigs (copains comme cochons), we continue the culinary adventure to the Abruzzo region of Italy where good friends often eat a kilo of salt together (hanno mangiato un chilo di sale insieme), according to the regional saying.

As we make our way to Germany, someone tells us voi siete come Gianni e Pinotto (you’re like Gianni and Pinotto!) The Italians compare good friends to the sixties cartoon character duo, which is also the name given to the legendary forties-era American comedians Abbott and Costello in Italy.

Gianni e Pinotto | Friends like Laurel and Hardy?

The German duo equivalent is Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill, an inseparable cop duo from the Spanish-German telefilm Zwei wie Pech und Schwefel (like pitch and brimstone) in German. The Polish version come from the pre-war world of the television show The Elderly Gentlemen’s Cabaret (Kabaret Starszych Panów), Jeremi Przybora and Jerzy Wasowski, where they sang an aristocratic-style tribute to friendship. Joined at the hip, we’ll eventually make for Poland, like brothers (są jak bracia).

Jeremi Przybora and Jerzy Wasowski sing ‘Don’t Love Individually’ | ‘Don’t fall in love with a girl unless your friend does the same, you need to do it in twos’, runs one lyric

Image: main ©crosathorian/ Flickr; videos: Gianni and Pinotto Giacomo GD and the Polish duo moodrabilla/ both via Youtube