Le ventre mou
Meaning: The weakest and most exposed part of something.
Language: French
Literally: The soft belly
Category: Nature
Origin: Churchill argued for attacking what he called the soft underbelly of Europe through Italy in 1942. The Italian campaign proved considerably harder than the phrase promised.
More idioms — Nature
- 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.
- être une girouette — Being inconsistent, constantly changing opinions or allegiances.
- estar más claro que el agua — Something is obvious, evident, and beyond any doubt or confusion.
More French idioms
- Rendre son tablier — To resign, usually in protest.
- Sans tambour ni trompette — Discreetly, without any announcement.
- Prendre la tangente — To slip away, or to dodge a question.
- Partir à Tataouine — To be packed off somewhere remote and unpleasant.
- Un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras — A certain small gain beats a larger promised one.
- Mieux vaut tenir que courir — Better to keep what you have than chase what you might get.
From our false friends
- Coin — Actually means 'corner'. A coin you spend is une pièce.
- Chance — Actually means 'luck'. Bonne chance! = Good luck! For chance (probability), say une possi…
- Sympathique — Actually means 'nice' or 'pleasant'. Il est très sympathique = He's very nice — not 'He's…
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