La balle est dans votre camp
Meaning: It is your turn to act; the decision now rests with you.
Language: French
Literally: The ball is in your camp
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From court games such as jeu de paume, the ancestor of tennis, in which the ball sitting on your side of the net obliges you to play it. The French keeps camp where English says court.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Convoquer le ban et l'arrière-ban — To call in absolutely everyone available.
- Une république bananière — A corrupt, unstable state run for the benefit of a few private interests.
- Un travail de bénédictin — Painstaking, patient scholarly labor demanding enormous persistence.
- Le benjamin — The youngest member of a family, team or group.
- C'est la Bérézina — A total, chaotic disaster.
- Chercher la petite bête — To nitpick; to hunt for a trivial fault.
More French idioms
- Passer sur le billard — To undergo surgery.
- Se faire blackbouler — To be rejected, voted down or heavily defeated in an election.
- Une arme blanche — A bladed weapon, as opposed to a firearm.
- Blanchir de l'argent — To launder money.
- Au petit bonheur la chance — Haphazardly, leaving the outcome entirely to chance.
- Avoir la bosse de — To have a natural gift for something, as in avoir la bosse des maths.
From our proverbs
- Leave with the one that brung you — Loyalty to your original partner or companion ensures you don't abandon those who support…
- Let George do it — Shirking responsibility by assuming someone else will handle the task instead.
- Lightning never strikes the same place twice — Misfortune rarely repeats at identical locations, so past danger doesn't guarantee future…
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