L'avocat du diable
Meaning: Someone who argues a position they do not hold in order to test it.
Language: French
Literally: The devil's advocate
Category: Daily Life
Origin: A real office in Catholic canonization, the promotor fidei, whose job was to argue against the proposed saint and pick holes in the evidence for their miracles. The post was abolished in 1983.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Dans tous les azimuts — In every direction at once; scattered and unfocused.
- Une tour de Babel — A place of hopeless confusion, especially one where nobody speaks the same language.
- Plier bagage — To pack up and clear off, usually in a hurry.
- Ça fait un bail — It has been ages.
- Un baiser de Judas — A show of affection that conceals a betrayal.
- La balle est dans votre camp — It is your turn to act; the decision now rests with you.
More French idioms
- 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.
From our tongue twisters
- 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.
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
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