N'être pas à prendre avec des pincettes
Meaning: To be in such a foul mood as to be unapproachable.
Language: French
Literally: Not to be picked up with tongs
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Tongs are for handling what is too hot or too filthy to touch, and the phrase says even they would not be enough. It is also used literally of something disgusting.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Damer le pion à quelqu'un — To outmaneuver someone decisively.
- Pas piqué des vers — Remarkable; really something.
- Savonner la planche à quelqu'un — To sabotage someone quietly so they fail.
- Glisser une peau de banane — To engineer someone's public downfall.
- Battre son plein — To be in full swing.
- Péter les plombs — To lose one's temper completely.
More French idioms
- Faire le point — To take stock of where things stand.
- Pomme de discorde — The particular thing two parties are fighting over.
- En grande pompe — With elaborate ceremony.
- Comme le Pont-Neuf — In excellent shape despite considerable age.
- Enfoncer une porte ouverte — To make a great effort to establish something nobody disputes.
- La portion congrue — A bare minimum, grudgingly given.
From our tongue twisters
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
- Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? — A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.
- Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès. — An 's' / 'si' minefield.
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