FrenchFaire baiser les verges
Meaning: To force someone you have mistreated to beg your pardon.
Literally: To make kiss the rods
Example: “Le vieux tyran de la pièce aime faire baiser les verges à ceux qu'il a humiliés.” — The play's old tyrant enjoys making those he has humiliated beg his pardon.
Origin: The verges are birch rods, the switches once used to whip children and criminals. Making the person about to be punished kiss the rods first was a ritual of submission: the Académie française's 1798 dictionary mentions making a child, or a monkey, kiss the rods before a whipping. The phrase is already in its first dictionary (1694), and the figurative sense, forcing someone you have mistreated to beg your pardon or admit the punishment was deserved, is spelled out in 1762. It is old-fashioned today.
More French idioms
- N’avoir qu’à bien se tenir A warning or threat implying that one must behave properly or face consequences.
- Battre les fourrés To range far and wide in search of adventure or chance encounters.
- Recoller les morceaux to repair a broken relationship or reconcile after a quarrel.
- Brûler ses dernières cartouches to exhaust one's final resources or use one's last arguments in desperation.
- Ne pas tourner rond to be unwell or not functioning properly.
- Passer un mauvais quart d’heure to experience a brief but unpleasant or distressing moment.
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