L'arbre qui cache la forêt
Meaning: A conspicuous detail that distracts attention from the larger reality behind it.
Language: French
Literally: The tree that hides the forest
Category: Nature
Origin: A perspective effect made proverbial: stand close enough to one trunk and it blots out everything beyond. Usually deployed in argument to accuse someone of fixating on a single case to avoid the pattern.
More idioms — Nature
- Jeter son bonnet par-dessus les moulins — To throw propriety to the wind and stop caring what people think.
- Un baroud d'honneur — A last stand fought for honor when defeat is already certain.
- Avoir le vent en poupe — To be doing very well; everything is going your way.
- Avoir la tête dans les nuages — To be a daydreamer; out of touch with reality.
- Jeter de l'huile sur le feu — To make a bad situation worse.
- faire la pluie et le beau temps — Having complete control over a situation or someone's fate.
More French idioms
- Un ange passe — Said to acknowledge a sudden awkward silence in a conversation.
- Être aux anges — To be overjoyed, in raptures.
- Être aux abonnés absents — To be unreachable, or to fail to show up when needed.
- Accuser réception — To acknowledge that something has been received.
- Par acquit de conscience — To do something merely to be sure, so as to leave nothing on your conscience.
- La perfide Albion — A hostile nickname for England, cast as habitually treacherous in its diplomacy.
From our tongue twisters
- 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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