Frappé au coin du bon sens
Meaning: Manifestly sensible; bearing the stamp of sound judgment.
Language: French
Literally: Struck with the die of good sense
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The coin here is the engraved die used to strike coinage, not a corner. A coin bearing the official mark was guaranteed genuine, so an argument struck with the die of good sense carries the same warrant.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Collet monté — Prim, stiff and old-fashioned in manner.
- Dans le collimateur — In someone's sights; singled out for scrutiny.
- Le complexe d'Œdipe — A child's unconscious attachment to the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the other.
- De conserve — Together, in company — not to be confused with de concert.
- On lui donnerait le Bon Dieu sans confession — He looks completely innocent — with the implication that he is not.
- À cor et à cri — Loudly and insistently; demanding something at the top of one's voice.
More French idioms
- La corde au cou — Entirely at someone's mercy; forced to submit on any terms.
- Tenir la corde — To be in the best position to win.
- Tenir les cordons du poêle — To be a pallbearer at a funeral, as a mark of honor.
- La corne d'abondance — A source of inexhaustible abundance.
- Un choix cornélien — A dilemma in which every option requires sacrificing something one is bound to.
- À son corps défendant — Reluctantly; against one's own will.
From our tongue twisters
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
- Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. — A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
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