À bon entendeur, salut
Meaning: A word to the wise — take the hint.
Language: French
Literally: To the good listener, greetings
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Salut here is the old sense of well-being rather than a greeting, so the sense is that whoever understands will be fine. It is invariably said to someone who has just been warned.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Bon sang ! — Good grief — an exclamation of exasperation.
- Bon sang ne saurait mentir — Breeding shows in the end.
- Séance tenante — Then and there, without adjournment.
- Un coup de semonce — A deliberate warning, delivered before real consequences.
- Un train de sénateur — A slow, dignified gait.
- Nourri dans le sérail — Brought up inside an institution and knowing all its workings.
More French idioms
- Ce n'est pas une sinécure — It is not an easy job.
- Une chasse aux sorcières — A campaign of persecution driven by suspicion rather than evidence.
- Pas besoin de sortir de Saint-Cyr — It doesn't take a genius to work that out.
- Faire table rase — To sweep everything away and start from nothing.
- Prendre le taureau par les cornes — To tackle a difficulty head-on instead of avoiding it.
- Les vaches maigres — A period of hardship and scarcity — the opposite of les vaches grasses.
From our false friends
- Sensible — Actually means 'sensitive'. For sensible/level-headed, say raisonnable.
- Librairie — Actually means 'bookshop'. A library is une bibliothèque.
- Pain — Actually means 'bread'. The hurting kind of pain is la douleur.
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