Ne pas mâcher ses mots
Meaning: To speak with complete bluntness.
Language: French
Literally: Not to chew one's words
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: Chewing softens what is swallowed, so refusing to do it delivers the words at full hardness. French also has mâcher la besogne, to chew the work for someone, on the same figure.
More idioms — Body & Senses
- Il faut tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche avant de parler — Think carefully before you speak.
- En avoir gros sur le cœur — To be full of unspoken hurt or resentment.
- En son for intérieur — In one's heart of hearts; in private conscience.
- Être médusé — To be struck dumb with astonishment.
- Motus et bouche cousue — Not a word to anyone.
- À fleur de peau — Raw and easily provoked, of emotions; or just at the surface.
More French idioms
- À la Saint-Glinglin — Never — on a day that will never come.
- Une guerre picrocholine — A furious conflict over something trivial.
- Est-ce que je te demande si ta grand-mère fait du vélo ? — Mind your own business — a retort to an intrusive question.
- Décrocher la lune — To achieve the impossible — or, promised, to offer what cannot be delivered.
- Tomber comme à Gravelotte — To come down thick and fast, of rain or of blows.
- Veiller au grain — To stay alert for trouble.
From our tongue twisters
- Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.
- Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
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