On n'attrape pas les mouches avec du vinaigre
Meaning: Gentleness achieves what harshness cannot.
Language: French
Literally: You don't catch flies with vinegar
Category: Animals
Origin: The full sense depends on the implied contrast with honey, which English states outright. French leaves the honey unsaid, which makes the vinegar do more work.
More idioms — Animals
- Prendre la mouche — To take sudden and disproportionate offense.
- Ours mal léché — A boorish, ill-mannered person.
- Un oiseau rare — An exceptional find; someone with an unlikely combination of qualities.
- Les moutons de Panurge — People who follow the crowd without thinking.
- Charger la mule — To pile on far too much; to overcharge someone.
- Ne pas valoir un pet de lapin — To be entirely worthless.
More French idioms
- Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop — You cannot permanently suppress your real character.
- C'est la mer à boire — It is an impossible or endless task — most often used in the negative.
- Faire son miel de quelque chose — To turn something to one's own advantage.
- La substantifique moelle — The essential substance of something, reached only by real effort.
- On ne fait pas d'omelette sans casser des œufs — Worthwhile results require some damage along the way.
- Refiler la patate chaude — To hand an awkward problem to someone else.
From our compliments & insults
- Tu as de la répartie — You're brilliantly quick-witted — always ready with the perfect comeback.
- T'as pas inventé le fil à couper le beurre — You're not exactly a genius — the wire to cut butter is about the most obvious tool imagi…
- Tête de mule — An impossibly stubborn person who refuses to change their mind no matter what.
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