IdiomAnimals
French
FrenchMontrer patte blanche
Meaning: To produce the credentials needed to be let in somewhere.
Literally: To show a white paw
Example: “Pour entrer dans ce club privé, il faut montrer patte blanche.” — To get into this private club, you have to show your credentials.
Origin: Popularized by La Fontaine's fable Le Loup, la Chèvre et le Chevreau (The Wolf, the Goat and the Kid), in which the kid, left home alone, demands the caller show a white paw like his mother's — the wolf's dark paw gives him away. Often credited to the Brothers Grimm's 'The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids', but they wrote roughly a century and a half after La Fontaine.
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