FrenchFaire ses choux gras
Meaning: Profiting greatly from a situation at someone else's expense.
Literally: To make one's cabbages fat
Example: “Les vendeurs de parapluies ont fait leurs choux gras pendant l'orage.” — The umbrella sellers cashed in during the storm.
English equivalent: To make a killing
Origin: On record from Guillaume Coquillard's Le Plaidoyer, written between 1478 and 1480 — cabbage being the staple vegetable of anyone too poor for meat, and gras (fattened) describing what happened when a cook enriched a plain cabbage dish with animal fat, usually lard, to make it worth eating. The Dictionnaire historique de la langue française records an older sense close to se goberger — eating well, taking one's ease — before the 17th century narrowed it to the modern meaning: profiting from something, one's own fortunes fattened the way the cabbage was.
Equivalents in other languages
Danish: At score kassen Literally: To score the cash box
Finnish: Lyödä rahoiksi Literally: To strike it into money
English: make a killing
More French idioms
- Avoir un tuyau Having inside information or a useful tip about something.
- Faire la pluie et le beau temps Having complete control over a situation or someone's fate.
- 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.
- Faire le mort To lie low; to give no sign of life and avoid drawing attention.
- Avoir la grosse tête Being arrogant, conceited, or thinking highly of oneself.
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