En rang d'oignons
Meaning: Lined up in a single neat row.
Language: French
Literally: In a row of onions
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: A gardener does plant onions in tidy rows — but so he does leeks, carrots and lettuces, which leaves the onion unexplained. The story usually told sends it to Blois and the Estates General of 1576 and 1588, where the master of ceremonies who assigned the lords and deputies their places was Artus de la Fontaine-Solaro, baron d'Oignon, a stickler for precedence who had served kings since Henri II. The dates undo it. In 1611 se mettre en rang d'oignons meant something else entirely — to insert yourself into company where you have no business being — and Randle Cotgrave has it in 1672 as se mettre en rang d'oignon et ne valoir une échalote, to usurp a place you are not worthy of. The modern sense only appears in 1654, and the older one ran on for another century beside it. Leroux de Lincy, cited by Littré, offers the plain answer instead: country people bundled onions with straw ties, largest first and the rest behind.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
- Pédaler dans la semoule — To be confused and getting nowhere.
- Raconter des salades — To tell lies or tall tales.
- En faire tout un fromage — To make a big deal out of nothing.
- Mettre son grain de sel — To give an unsolicited opinion.
More French idioms
- Se mettre le doigt dans l'œil — To be completely and obviously wrong.
- Faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties — Don't push it; don't take it too far.
- À l'œil — Free of charge.
- L'avoir dans l'os — To come off badly; to be had.
- Être à l'ouest — To be out of it; not with it at all.
- Avoir des oursins dans la poche / Avoir des oursins dans le porte-monnaie — To be tight-fisted.
From our proverbs
- Where the hedge is lowest, men commonly leap over. — Temptation proves strongest where safeguards are weakest, inviting transgression.
- A low hedge is easily leapt over. — Weak boundaries invite transgression; those who set minimal standards find them readily i…
- Hedges have eyes, and walls have ears. — Privacy is an illusion; assume others observe and listen to your words and actions everyw…
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