Les carottes sont cuites
Meaning: It's too late, nothing can be done.
Language: French
Literally: The carrots are cooked
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: Carrots were a poor person's vegetable through the 17th and 18th centuries — ideally cooked alongside meat, but eaten alone whenever meat wasn't to be had — and that low standing is what powers the phrase. An older form, avoir ses carottes cuites, is attested from 1878 meaning to be at death's door, one's situation as finished and unglamorous as a cooked carrot. The modern wording, meaning the game is up rather than specifically that someone is dying, grew out of it. Its most famous outing came during the Second World War, when the BBC's French broadcasts used les carottes sont cuites, je répète, les carottes sont cuites as a coded signal to resistance networks that an operation was about to begin.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- Tomaten auf den Augen haben — To be oblivious to what's right in front of you.
- Um den heißen Brei herumreden — To beat around the bush.
- Seinen Senf dazugeben — To give an unsolicited opinion.
- Klar wie Kloßbrühe — Completely obvious.
- 花より団子 (Hana yori dango) — Substance over style; practicality over beauty.
- Tener mala leche — To be in a foul mood or have bad intentions.
More French idioms
- Casser les pieds à quelqu'un — To annoy or bore someone greatly.
- Avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre — To want to have it both ways.
- Noyer le poisson — To confuse the issue deliberately; to dodge a question.
- Chercher midi à quatorze heures — To overcomplicate a simple matter.
- Appeler un chat un chat — To call things by their proper name; to speak bluntly.
- Donner sa langue au chat — To give up trying to guess the answer.
From our proverbs
- Two wrongs don't make a right — Responding to wrongdoing with more wrongdoing is never justified.
- Actions speak louder than words — What you do matters more than what you say.
- Rome wasn't built in a day — Great things take time and patience.