FrenchCrudeEnvoyer la sauce
Meaning: To ejaculate; to fire a burst from a weapon; or to open the throttle. Vulgar in the first sense.
Literally: To throw the sauce
Example: “Au feu vert, le pilote a envoyé la sauce.” — When the light turned green, the driver floored it.
Origin: That slang of the first half of the 20th century used sauce for semen is not surprising given the consistency, and French had sauce d'amour for the secretions of either sex as early as the start of the 17th century — sauce also being what accompanies meat. Balancer la purée says the same. Since ejaculating is also décharger in common speech, and a rifle is an unsubtle enough phallic symbol, the phrase slid by analogy into discharging a weapon around the middle of the century. The engine sense is separate and slightly earlier, from the very start of the 20th: there the sauce is the fuel that lets the revs climb. What unites all three is a sudden release of power, which is why the phrase also serves for landing a hard punch or, of a musician, playing flat out.
More French idioms
- Tout schuss Flat out; or straight down, without deviating.
- Chanter comme une casserole To sing badly out of tune.
- Vaincre le signe indien To break a run of bad luck.
- Faire un tabac To be a huge success.
- Passer à tabac To be given a severe beating, especially in police custody.
- Un coup de tabac A sudden violent squall at sea; by extension, a brutal turn of events.
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