FrenchEnvoyer des piques
Meaning: To make cutting or barbed remarks intended to irritate or provoke someone.
Literally: To send pikes
Example: “Pendant tout le dîner, ils se sont envoyé des piques au sujet de l'héritage.” — All through dinner, they took digs at each other about the inheritance.
English equivalent: To take potshots at someone
Equivalents in other languages
English: take potshots at
Origin: A pique here is not the infantryman's pike but a sting: the word comes from the verb piquer (to prick, to sting), and the Académie française defines it in this sense as a sharp, biting remark meant to hurt. Envoyer or lancer des piques is throwing such remarks at someone, and s'envoyer des piques is trading them. The picture is of being stung, not speared.
More French idioms
- Prendre le maquis To go into hiding or join a resistance movement to escape authority or persecution.
- Ne pas en croire ses oreilles To be startled or disbelieving upon hearing something astonishing.
- Se composer le visage To adopt a serious or carefully studied expression suited to the circumstances.
- Être de mauvais poil To be in a bad mood or irritable disposition.
- Casser le nez à coups d’encensoir To offer someone clumsy, exaggerated, and insincere flattery to their face.
- Se casser la figure To fall to the ground; to have an accident or suffer a collapse.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
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- Un chien regarde bien un évêque Even the humblest person has some rights in front of the powerful.
- Un coup de langue est pire qu'un coup de lance Hurtful words do more harm than physical blows.
- Prudence est mère de sûreté Being careful is what keeps you safe.
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