What does the French idiom “Revenons à nos moutons !” mean? It means, “Let’s get back to the topic,” or “let’s get back on track.” It dates back to 1464, when it was first found in a comedy of the Late Middle Ages. Literally, however, it means, “Let’s come back to our sheep.” Learn more amusing expressions like this one when you book an online lesson with Fast French.
“Blanchir de l’argent” is a French expression meaning “to launder money.” Literally it means to whiten or to whitewash money, but in English you would say to launder. Just like the English expression, “blanchir de l’argent” means to give illegally gained money a valid, legal existence by hiding its criminal origins. This is done in…
The French expression « le nez de Cléopâtre » (“Cleopatra’s nose”) comes from a famous line by the 17th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal. In his Pensées (1670), he wrote: « Le nez de Cléopâtre, s’il eût été plus court, toute la face de la terre aurait changé. »If Cleopatra’s nose had been shorter, the…
“à huis clos” is a French saying that means in private, with all doors closed, in secret. It is an expression dating from the middle of the 16th century, meaning “with doors closed.” “Huis” is an old 11th century word for door, now replaced by the word “porte.” The original word for door was “us,”…
“dormir sur ses deux oreilles” is a French saying that means “to sleep deeply, to be perfectly tranquil, or to sleep without worry.” Surprisingly, there is no known source for this expression and no known origin. It seems to have appeared without anyone being able to track when it was first used or by whom….
“Faire grève” or “faire la grève” is a French idiom that means “to strike,” or “to go on strike.” This is when workers purposely stop working in their attempt to achieve higher wages and/or better conditions from their employers. The word “grève” in the expression comes from the word for gravel (gravier) which in turn came…
The French expression “rabattre le caquet à” is commonly used to describe the act of putting someone in their place or silencing someone who is overly boastful or talkative. Literal meaning: Literally, “rabattre le caquet” could be translated as “to silence chatter” or “to shut a noisy hen’s beak.” The imagery is quite vivid: one…