IdiomDaily Life
French
FrenchNe pas être grand clerc
Meaning: Not to be much of an expert — used to say that no expertise is needed to see something.
Literally: Not to be a great clerk
Example: “Pas besoin d'être grand clerc pour voir que ce pont est dangereux.” — It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this bridge is dangerous.
English equivalent: It doesn't take a rocket scientist
Other ways to say this
- French: Pas besoin de sortir de Saint-Cyr Literally: No need to have graduated from Saint-Cyr
English: it doesn't take a rocket scientist
Origin: A clerc was a cleric and by extension a literate scholar, at a time when the two were nearly the same thing. The phrase almost always appears negated, in the form 'you need not be a great clerk to see that'.
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