Le tonneau des Danaïdes
Meaning: A hopeless undertaking that consumes everything and is never finished.
Language: French
Literally: The barrel of the Danaids
Category: The Absurd
Origin: The forty-nine daughters of Danaus, who murdered their husbands on their wedding night, were condemned in the underworld to fill a vessel riddled with holes. It is used of budgets more than of myths.
More idioms — The Absurd
- Au diable vauvert — Miles from anywhere; the back of beyond.
- Il n'y a pas le feu au lac — There's no rush.
- Par l'opération du Saint-Esprit — By some unexplained miracle — said sarcastically of something nobody will account for.
- À la Saint-Glinglin — Never — on a day that will never come.
- Une guerre picrocholine — A furious conflict over something trivial.
- Est-ce que je te demande si ta grand-mère fait du vélo ? — Mind your own business — a retort to an intrusive question.
More French idioms
- Au creux de la vague — At a low point, with the expectation that things will rise again.
- Nager entre deux eaux — To avoid committing to either side.
- Une coupe sombre — A drastic reduction, especially of staff or budget.
- Nettoyer les écuries d'Augias — To clear up a vast accumulated mess, usually of corruption.
- Aux quatre coins de — All over; in every part of a place.
- Frappé au coin du bon sens — Manifestly sensible; bearing the stamp of sound judgment.
From our proverbs
- You cannot know wine by the barrel. — Judging quality requires direct tasting, not trusting containers or external appearances.
- Commend a wedded life, but keep thyself a batchelor. — Marry others off while preserving your own freedom from domestic obligations and constrai…
- Sow beans in the mud, they'll grow like wood. — Planting seeds in unpromising conditions—poor soil, hardship—produces unexpectedly sturdy…
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