
IdiomDaily Life
French
Des goûts et des couleurs on ne discute pas
Meaning: There is no arguing with personal preference.
Literally: Of tastes and colors one does not argue
Example: “Tu mets de la moutarde sur ta pastèque ? Des goûts et des couleurs, on ne discute pas.” — You put mustard on your watermelon? There's no accounting for taste.
English equivalent: There's no accounting for taste
Origin: A French rendering of the scholastic tag de gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum. It is generally deployed to close a conversation rather than to concede a point.
More French idioms
- Un homme averti en vaut deux Advance warning doubles a person's effectiveness.
- Honi soit qui mal y pense Let anyone who reads something improper into this be the one disgraced.
- À huis clos In closed session, with the public excluded.
- Mettre à l'index To blacklist something or exclude it from acceptable use.
- Un violon d'Ingres A serious passion pursued outside one's actual profession.
- Un coup de Jarnac An unexpected decisive stroke, delivered within the rules but not quite sportingly.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- 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.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
Keep exploring