Appuyer sur le champignon
Meaning: To accelerate hard; to floor it.
Language: French
Literally: To press on the mushroom
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The accelerator pedals of early motor cars were mounted as a rounded knob on a stalk, which looked unmistakably like a mushroom. The pedal changed shape long ago and the name stayed.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Devoir une fière chandelle à quelqu'un — To owe someone a considerable debt of gratitude.
- Le jeu n'en vaut pas la chandelle — The effort or cost outweighs anything to be gained.
- Tenir la chandelle — To be the awkward third party to a couple.
- Sur les chapeaux de roues — At top speed; also, of a start, immediately and forcefully.
- Avoir voix au chapitre — To have a say in a decision.
- Trouver chaussure à son pied — To find exactly the right match, usually a partner.
More French idioms
- Ne pas y aller par quatre chemins — To come straight to the point.
- Tous les chemins mènent à Rome — There are many routes to the same result.
- Un chevalier d'industrie — A swindler who lives by his wits at others' expense.
- La cheville ouvrière — The linchpin — the person or thing on which an entire operation turns.
- Une chiffe molle — A spineless person with no will of their own.
- Être au septième ciel — To be in a state of perfect happiness.
From our tongue twisters
- Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
- Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. — A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
Loading the full interactive collection…