FrenchÊtre mis sur la touche
Meaning: To be sidelined and left out of things.
Literally: To be put on the touchline
Example: “Depuis la fusion, l'ancien directeur a été mis sur la touche.” — Since the merger, the former director has been left on the sidelines.
English equivalent: On the sidelines
Equivalents in other languages
English: on the sidelines
Origin: The touche is the ground outside the sidelines of a football or rugby pitch, where play is not allowed and where the benches sit for players sent off or waiting to come on. Someone put there is still present and no longer participating, which is the specific humiliation involved. The phrase dates to the start of the 20th century and left the field almost immediately: it now applies to anyone shut out of a negotiation, a company's leadership or any other affair with several participants, while still holding a place in the room.
More French idioms
- Brûler ses vaisseaux To destroy any possibility of retreat.
- Vérité en deçà des Pyrénées, erreur au-delà What counts as true depends on which side of a border you stand.
- Un vieux de la vieille A veteran of long standing.
- En quatrième vitesse At top speed; as fast as possible.
- Au temps pour moi My mistake.
- Aller au charbon To head off to work; to steel oneself for something disagreeable.
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- Courir sur le haricot To get badly on someone's nerves.
- Tu as du chien You have a certain irresistible magnetism — a je-ne-sais-quoi that draws people in.
- Tu as la tête sur les épaules You're grounded, sensible, and dependable — not easily swept off course.
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