FrenchNe pas avoir les yeux dans sa poche
Meaning: To be observant and alert; to miss nothing.
Literally: Not to have one's eyes in one's pocket
Example: “Rien n'échappe à la gardienne de l'immeuble, elle n'a pas les yeux dans sa poche.” — Nothing gets past the building's caretaker; she doesn't miss a thing.
English equivalent: To have eyes in the back of one's head
Equivalents in other languages
English: have eyes in the back of one's head
Origin: It began with spectacles. French once called eyeglasses des yeux (eyes), and the Académie française's first dictionary (1694) gives il porte ses yeux dans sa poche for someone who keeps his glasses in his pocket, along with il a oublié ses yeux au logis, he has left his eyes at home. Whoever has their eyes in their pocket cannot see what is going on. By Littré's time one asked avez-vous vos yeux dans votre poche ? of someone who missed the obvious, and the negative form, for someone from whom nothing escapes, is the one in the Académie's 1932 edition and in use today.
More French idioms
- N’avoir qu’à bien se tenir A warning or threat implying that one must behave properly or face consequences.
- Battre les fourrés To range far and wide in search of adventure or chance encounters.
- Recoller les morceaux to repair a broken relationship or reconcile after a quarrel.
- Brûler ses dernières cartouches to exhaust one's final resources or use one's last arguments in desperation.
- Ne pas tourner rond to be unwell or not functioning properly.
- Passer un mauvais quart d’heure to experience a brief but unpleasant or distressing moment.
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