faire la pluie et le beau temps
Meaning: Having complete control over a situation or someone's fate.
Language: French
Literally: to make the rain and fair weather
Category: Nature
Origin: On record from 1732, and reaching back further for its logic than the date suggests. Weather has stood for divine or superhuman power across many mythologies — a god able to darken or clear the sky at will was, by definition, a god worth fearing — and Paris kept its own local version of the idea in Saint Geneviève, credited with the power to end both drought and flood by her intercession. Voltaire, writing on magic in his 1756 Essai sur les mœurs, traces the same instinct to the magi of ancient Chaldea, who he says searched for the cause behind rain and fine weather alike. Someone who fait la pluie et le beau temps today has exactly that older kind of unanswerable authority, minus the theology.
Equivalents in other languages
- Spanish: Tener la sartén por el mango — literally: To hold the frying pan by the handle
- English: call the shots
More idioms — Nature
- être une girouette — Being inconsistent, constantly changing opinions or allegiances.
- estar más claro que el agua — Something is obvious, evident, and beyond any doubt or confusion.
- come hell or high water — no matter what obstacles arise; with absolute determination.
- up the creek without a paddle — in a difficult situation without means to escape.
- take the plunge — to commit to something risky; to make a decisive move.
- go pear-shaped — to go wrong; to develop badly; to become misshapen.
More French idioms
- avoir une dent contre quelqu'un — Holding a grudge or resentment toward someone.
- tirer les vers du nez — Getting someone to reveal information they want to keep secret.
- avoir le trac — Feeling nervous or anxious before a performance or important event.
- faire la morte — Pretending not to notice something or ignoring a situation.
- manger ses paroles — Having to take back or admit one was wrong about something said.
- mettre l'eau à la bouche — Making someone crave or desire something through temptation.
From our proverbs
- Don't put the cart before the horse — Do things in the correct order.
- Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do — Sometimes unconventional paths lead to correct outcomes.
- If at first you don't succeed, try, try again — Persistence is essential to success.