IdiomDaily Life
French
FrenchDur à la détente
Meaning: Slow to understand — or, in the other sense, reluctant to part with money.
Literally: Stiff on the trigger
Example: “Il a fallu lui expliquer la blague trois fois : il est un peu dur à la détente.” — We had to explain the joke to him three times; he's a bit slow on the uptake.
English equivalent: Slow on the uptake
Equivalents in other languages
English: slow on the uptake
Origin: The détente is a firearm's trigger, and a stiff one is slow to release. Both modern senses follow from that reluctance to let go, though the financial one is now the more common.
More French idioms
- Dorer la pilule To make an unpleasant fact easier to accept by dressing it up.
- Qui dort dîne Sleep takes the place of a meal you cannot afford.
- Se la couler douce To take life very easy indeed.
- Des mesures draconiennes Punishingly severe rules.
- Péter une durite To lose one's temper completely.
- À l'eau de rose Insipidly sentimental, especially of fiction.
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