IdiomFood & Drink
French
FrenchLa dive bouteille
Meaning: Wine, treated with mock reverence.
Literally: The divine bottle
Example: “Les copains se retrouvent chaque vendredi pour honorer la dive bouteille.” — The friends meet every Friday to pay their respects to the bottle.
Origin: From Rabelais, whose Cinquième Livre (Fifth Book) sends Pantagruel on a quest to consult the oracle of the Dive Bouteille, which delivers the single word Trinch — drink. The register is deliberately liturgical, which is the joke.
More French idioms
- Clouer le bec à quelqu'un To silence someone completely, usually with an unanswerable reply.
- Se crêper le chignon To have a furious quarrel — said of women.
- Avoir les yeux de Chimène pour quelqu'un To be visibly smitten with someone or something.
- Se faire des cheveux blancs To worry oneself sick.
- Haut les cœurs ! Take courage; lift your spirits.
- Aux calendes grecques Never — used of something postponed indefinitely.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- 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.
- Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.
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