tenir le bon bout

ByFast French

“Tenir le bon bout” is a French idiom that literally means “to hold the right end.” It means to be on the point of success, to be in the middle of succeeding in a process, to have the advantage, to be about to succeed in a mission, to reach the end of a project or to be in a good position.

The saying comes from a 15th century expression “prendre quelque chose par le bon bout” which meant to take something in the right way or by the correct side. In the 17th century, it came to mean “to already have guaranteed advantages in a situation.”

The English equivalent of this saying is “to be on the right track.”

Of course, if you’re a dog, the right end of the stick is in fact the middle, not one end or the other.

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