Mentir comme un arracheur de dents
Meaning: To lie brazenly and habitually.
Language: French
Literally: To lie like a tooth-puller
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Itinerant tooth-drawers worked at fairs, assured their patients the extraction would not hurt, and were wrong every time. The lie was so reliable that the trade became the standard for dishonesty.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Dur à la détente — Slow to understand — or, in the other sense, reluctant to part with money.
- Qui paye ses dettes s'enrichit — Settling what you owe leaves you better off than owing it.
- Faire son deuil de quelque chose — To accept that something is lost and give up on it.
- Jeter son dévolu sur quelque chose — To settle firmly on something one intends to have.
- À Dieu ne plaise — God forbid.
- Dieu reconnaîtra les siens — Act without discriminating and let a higher authority sort out the innocent.
More French idioms
- Mon petit doigt m'a dit — I know something you did not expect me to know.
- Dorer la pilule — To make an unpleasant fact easier to accept by dressing it up.
- Qui dort dîne — Sleep takes the place of a meal you cannot afford.
- Se la couler douce — To take life very easy indeed.
- Des mesures draconiennes — Punishingly severe rules.
- Péter une durite — To lose one's temper completely.
From our false friends
- Monnaie — Actually means 'change' or 'coins'. Money in general is l'argent.
- Sensible — Actually means 'sensitive'. For sensible/level-headed, say raisonnable.
- Librairie — Actually means 'bookshop'. A library is une bibliothèque.
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