IdiomBody & Senses
French
FrenchÊtre dans ses petits souliers
Meaning: To be acutely ill at ease.
Literally: To be in one's little shoes
Example: “Invité au dîner du patron, le stagiaire était dans ses petits souliers.” — Invited to the boss's dinner, the intern felt like a fish out of water.
English equivalent: Like a fish out of water
Equivalents in other languages
English: like a fish out of water
Origin: Shoes a size too small make every moment uncomfortable and every movement awkward, which is exactly the social state described. It is embarrassment rather than fear.
More French idioms
- De la poudre de perlimpinpin A worthless remedy sold with great confidence.
- Un lit de Procuste A standard imposed regardless of what it does to the thing being measured.
- Le rocher de Sisyphe A labor that must be repeated forever and never completes.
- Le supplice de Tantale Having what one wants permanently in sight and permanently out of reach.
- Une solution de continuité A break or gap — not, despite appearances, a solution to anything.
- Demain, on rase gratis A promise perpetually postponed.
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