09:27 May 16, 2011 

Yes, I well remember wobbling round an ice rink as a kid. However, I think that getting one's boot into contact with the ice requires a fall or a broken ankle. So, I think the French expression is a deliberate exaggeration for effect.

00:39 May 16, 2011 

People who are learning to skate, in English, are wobbly on their skates.

22:30 May 15, 2011 

Is this with normal figure/hockey skates, or some new kind of special skates? It's actually very dangerous to have the boot in direct contact with the ice, and it would be very difficult indeed to get your ankle to the right angle without overbalancing. The only times I ever did it were by accident (you don't stay upright for long when it happens), and it can lead to hideous falls as the boot offers no grip at all, so I can't imagine why learners would do it. In 13 years of figure skating, I never heard of a set expression for this. "Skating on the boot" sounds like a perfectly clear way of saying it, but as I say, it would be almost a physical impossibility unless it was with some kind of special skates that I've never heard of, and very dangerous even if it was possible.

22:29 May 15, 2011 

bottine instead of botine ...