Au pied de la lettre / À la lettre
Meaning: Literally, in the strictest sense.
Language: French
Literally: At the foot of the letter
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The letter is the written text as against its spirit, a distinction inherited from scriptural interpretation. Taking something au pied de la lettre often implies the reading is too narrow to be useful. French uses the shorter à la lettre in the same sense, and the two are interchangeable.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Entrer en lice — To join a contest or dispute.
- Se faire limoger — To be relieved of a post; to be sacked.
- Laver son linge sale en famille — Keep internal disputes private.
- Par le petit bout de la lorgnette — From a needlessly narrow point of view.
- Être une lumière — To be highly intelligent — used almost exclusively in the negative.
- Une lune de miel — The first happy period of a marriage, or of any new arrangement.
More French idioms
- Bien luné — In a good mood — and mal luné, in a bad one.
- Depuis belle lurette — For ages; for a very long time.
- Depuis des lustres — For a very long time.
- Pleurer comme une Madeleine — To cry copiously and without restraint.
- Une madeleine de Proust — A small sensory trigger that unlocks a flood of memory.
- Avoir maille à partir avec quelqu'un — To have a quarrel or a bone to pick with someone.
From our compliments & insults
- T'as pas inventé le fil à couper le beurre — You're not exactly a genius — the wire to cut butter is about the most obvious tool imagi…
- Tête de mule — An impossibly stubborn person who refuses to change their mind no matter what.
- C'est une vraie chèvre — They're hopelessly stubborn and infuriating — a goat that refuses to be moved.
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