Laver son linge sale en famille
Meaning: Keep internal disputes private.
Language: French
Literally: To wash one's dirty linen within the family
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Attributed to Napoleon, addressing the Corps législatif (the legislative body) in 1800 on the subject of public criticism. English inverted the emphasis and warns against airing dirty laundry in public.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Par le petit bout de la lorgnette — From a needlessly narrow point of view.
- Être une lumière — To be highly intelligent — used almost exclusively in the negative.
- Une lune de miel — The first happy period of a marriage, or of any new arrangement.
- Bien luné — In a good mood — and mal luné, in a bad one.
- Depuis belle lurette — For ages; for a very long time.
- Depuis des lustres — For a very long time.
More French idioms
- Pleurer comme une Madeleine — To cry copiously and without restraint.
- Une madeleine de Proust — A small sensory trigger that unlocks a flood of memory.
- Avoir maille à partir avec quelqu'un — To have a quarrel or a bone to pick with someone.
- Faire main basse sur quelque chose — To seize something wholesale.
- S'en laver les mains — To disclaim all responsibility for an outcome.
- Tout le saint-frusquin — The whole lot; everything one owns.
From our tongue twisters
- Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès. — An 's' / 'si' minefield.
- Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.
- Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
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