C'est pas tes oignons
Meaning: That's none of your business.
Language: French
Literally: It's not your onions
Example: “Où je passe mes vacances ? C'est pas tes oignons.” — Where I spend my vacation? That's none of your beeswax.
English equivalent: None of your beeswax
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: Oignon was old French slang for the backside, so telling someone to mind their own onions was originally a softer way of telling them to mind their own business and stay out of yours.
Other ways to say this
- French: Est-ce que je te demande si ta grand-mère fait du vélo ? — literally: Am I asking you whether your grandmother rides a bike?
- French: S'occuper de ses oignons — literally: To mind one's own onions
- English: none of your beeswax
More idioms — Food & Drink
- C'est la fin des haricots — It's all over; there's no hope left.
- apple of one's eye — A person or thing that is precious or loved above all else.
- big cheese — An important, powerful or influential person.
- bite the dust — To be destroyed or ruined beyond repair; slang for "to die".
- bitter pill to swallow — A difficult or unpleasant reality to deal with.
- chew someone out — To scold someone harshly.
More French idioms
- Le dindon de la farce — The dupe — the victim of a trick who ends up everyone's laughingstock.
- Montrer patte blanche — To produce the credentials needed to be let in somewhere.
- Tenir la dragée haute à quelqu'un — To keep someone waiting before granting what they ask, so they feel the power you hold ov…
- Sucrer les fraises — To have trembling hands; by extension, to be doddering.
- Les Anglais ont débarqué — To have one's period.
- S'envoyer en l'air — To have sex.
From our proverbs
- He loseth his thanks who promiseth and delayeth. — Postponing promised help damages gratitude, as delayed assistance feels less generous tha…
- When I have thatched his house he would throw me down. — Ingratitude punishes generosity: helping someone complete their security makes them bold…
- Give a thief rope enough and he'll hang himself. — A criminal given freedom eventually exposes himself through his own continued wrongdoing.