DutchIets met de Franse slag doen
Meaning: To do it carelessly and half-heartedly.
Literally: To do something with the French stroke
Example: “Hij heeft de afwas met de Franse slag gedaan; de pannen zijn nog vet.” — He just went through the motions with the dishes; the pans are still greasy.
English equivalent: To go through the motions
Origin: Slag here is a stroke of the whip. Onze Taal explains that in horse training the Franse slag (French stroke) was a particular showy flourish with a long whip; later the phrase came to mean doing something hastily and sloppily, without proper care. It is found from the 17th century. Why the French stroke in particular became the careless one is not explained.
Other ways to say this
Russian: работать спустя рукава (rabotat' spustya rukava) Literally: To work with sleeves let down
Icelandic: Að kasta til höndunum Literally: To throw with your hands
Malay: Melepaskan batuk di tangga Literally: To cough on the stairs and leave- Dutch: er met een jantje-van-leiden van afmaken Literally: To finish it off with a little John from Leiden
English: go through the motions
More Dutch idioms
- De kat uit de boom kijken To wait cautiously before committing.
- Iets voor zoete koek aannemen To swallow a story uncritically.
- Met de gebakken peren zitten To be stuck with the unpleasant aftermath.
- De koe bij de horens vatten To tackle a problem head-on.
- Een appeltje voor de dorst Savings put by for hard times.
- Met de mond vol tanden staan To be tongue-tied and lost for words.
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