FrenchNe plus savoir où donner de la tête
Meaning: To be overwhelmed with work or demands.
Literally: To no longer know where to put one's head
Example: “Entre le déménagement et le nouveau bébé, ils ne savent plus où donner de la tête.” — Between the move and the new baby, they don't know which way to turn.
English equivalent: Not to know which way to turn
Equivalents in other languages
Slovak: Byť v koncoch Literally: To be at the ends
Italian: Non sapere che pesci pigliare Literally: To not know which fish to catch
English: at one's wits' end- English: not know which way to turn
Origin: Donner de la tête is to strike with one's head, as in donner de la tête contre un mur. Not knowing where to give it is being pulled in so many directions that there is nowhere to aim. The phrase is classical: Littré quotes Madame de Sévigné, in the 17th century, not knowing where to turn for money, and Saint-Simon's memoirs, where the comte de Soissons, ne sachant plus où donner de la tête, falls back on his younger brother, Prince Eugene.
More French idioms
- Faire le pont-levis For a horse to rear up very high.
- 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 s’être pas regardé to judge others harshly while being blind to one's own equal or greater faults.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
Short sayings of timeless wisdom from more than 50 cultures, each with its meaning and origin.
- Quand le vin est tiré, il faut le boire Once you have committed to something, you have to go through with it.
- Un malheur ne vient jamais seul Misfortunes tend to come several at once.
- Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir It is better to stop a problem before it happens than to fix it afterwards.
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