C'est la mer à boire
Meaning: It is an impossible or endless task — most often used in the negative.
Language: French
Literally: It's the sea to drink
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: The task is not merely large but the wrong kind of thing to attempt at all. It appears far more often as ce n'est pas la mer à boire, telling someone their difficulty is manageable.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- Faire son miel de quelque chose — To turn something to one's own advantage.
- La substantifique moelle — The essential substance of something, reached only by real effort.
- On ne fait pas d'omelette sans casser des œufs — Worthwhile results require some damage along the way.
- Refiler la patate chaude — To hand an awkward problem to someone else.
- Dans le pétrin — In serious trouble.
- Avoir du pain sur la planche — To have a great deal of work ahead.
More French idioms
- Manger son pain blanc en premier — To take the easy part at the start and leave the hard part for later.
- C'est du nanan — It is delicious — or, by extension, extremely easy.
- Être médusé — To be struck dumb with astonishment.
- Motus et bouche cousue — Not a word to anyone.
- À fleur de peau — Raw and easily provoked, of emotions; or just at the surface.
- Avoir bon pied bon œil — To be in excellent shape, especially for one's age.
From our tongue twisters
- 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.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
- Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? — A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.
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