FrenchMénager la chèvre et le chou
Meaning: To try to please both sides of a conflict without committing to either.
Literally: To spare both the goat and the cabbage
Example: “Le maire essaie de ménager la chèvre et le chou entre les commerçants et les riverains.” — The mayor is trying to keep both the shop owners and the residents happy.
Origin: From the old river-crossing puzzle in which a farmer must ferry a wolf, a goat and a cabbage across a river one at a time, without ever leaving the goat alone with the wolf or with the cabbage. The puzzle already appears in a Latin collection of riddles attributed to Alcuin, Charlemagne's scholar, around 800. The Académie française listed sauver or ménager la chèvre et le chou in 1798, for steering between two opposing interests without harming either.
More French idioms
- Avoir la gueule de bois To be hungover.
- Filer à l'anglaise To leave discreetly without saying goodbye.
- Se mettre sur son trente-et-un To dress up in your very best clothes.
- Les doigts dans le nez To do something with the greatest of ease.
- Tomber dans le panneau To fall for a trick or scam.
- Avoir un cœur d'artichaut To fall in love easily and often.
Explore another collection: Compliments & Insults
Compliments and insults from around the world, from the sweet to the savage.
- Tu déchires You're awesome — you totally rock.
- Bête comme ses pieds Really not very bright.
- Avoir un poil dans la main To be incurably lazy.
Keep exploring