Épater la galerie
Meaning: To show off for the benefit of onlookers.
Language: French
Literally: To astound the gallery
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The galerie is the spectators, the term coming from the covered gallery where they watched jeu de paume. It implies the performance is for the watchers rather than the game.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Sans crier gare — Without any warning at all.
- Une promesse de Gascon — A promise nobody expects to be kept.
- Vouer aux gémonies — To denounce someone publicly and utterly.
- Cousin germain — A first cousin.
- Faire partie du Gotha — To belong to the highest society.
- Des goûts et des couleurs on ne discute pas — There is no arguing with personal preference.
More French idioms
- Mettre le grappin sur quelque chose — To get one's hooks into something and not let go.
- De gré ou de force — Willingly or unwillingly; one way or another.
- Le Grenelle de quelque chose — A large multi-party negotiation convened to settle a national issue.
- L'habit ne fait pas le moine — Appearances do not establish what someone is.
- C'est de l'hébreu — It is completely incomprehensible.
- Vieux comme Hérode — Extremely ancient.
From our untranslatable words
- L'esprit de l'escalier — Thinking of the perfect comeback only after the moment has passed — on your way down the…
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