Ours mal léché
Meaning: A boorish, ill-mannered person.
Language: French
Literally: A badly licked bear
Category: Animals
Origin: Medieval bestiaries held that bear cubs were born shapeless and were literally licked into form by their mother. One insufficiently licked stayed rough — which is the accusation, made about upbringing rather than nature.
More idioms — Animals
- 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.
- Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop — You cannot permanently suppress your real character.
- Comme un poisson dans l'eau — Completely at ease in one's element.
More French idioms
- 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.
- Dans le pétrin — In serious trouble.
From our untranslatable words
- L'esprit de l'escalier — Thinking of the perfect comeback only after the moment has passed — on your way down the…
- Terroir — The unique character that a place — its soil, climate and tradition — gives to a wine or…
- Râler — To complain and grumble with a certain national flair — a beloved French pastime.
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