Noyer le poisson
Meaning: To confuse the issue deliberately; to dodge a question.
Language: French
Literally: To drown the fish
Category: Animals
Origin: Fishing metaphor, 19th century French.
More idioms — Animals
- Appeler un chat un chat — To call things by their proper name; to speak bluntly.
- Donner sa langue au chat — To give up trying to guess the answer.
- Faire d'une mouche un éléphant — To make a mountain out of a molehill; to exaggerate wildly.
- faire la morte — Pretending not to notice something or ignoring a situation.
- montrer les dents — Displaying aggression, defiance, or readiness to fight.
- être un ours — Being unfriendly, grumpy, and difficult to approach socially.
More French idioms
- Chercher midi à quatorze heures — To overcomplicate a simple matter.
- Avoir un poil dans la main — To be extremely lazy.
- Prendre ses jambes à son cou — To run away very fast.
- C'est la croix et la bannière — It is an enormous effort or ordeal.
- Faire la fine bouche — To be overly picky or hard to please.
- Se lever du pied gauche — To wake up in a bad mood.
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