IdiomDaily Life
French
FrenchPasser sur le billard
Meaning: To undergo surgery.
Literally: To go onto the billiard table
Example: “Mon père passe sur le billard jeudi pour son genou.” — My father is going under the knife on Thursday for his knee.
English equivalent: To go under the knife
Equivalents in other languages
Swedish: under kniven Literally: Under the knife
English: go under the knife
Origin: Early 20th-century slang comparing the flat green operating table to a billiard table. The flippancy is deliberate, the phrase being a way of making an alarming prospect sound ordinary.
More French idioms
- Rabattre le caquet à quelqu'un To shut someone up; to take an insolent person down a peg.
- Caracoler en tête To lead by a wide margin, especially in a race or in polls.
- Muet comme une carpe Completely silent; saying absolutely nothing.
- La caque sent toujours le hareng However far you rise, low origins always show through.
- Parler à la cantonade To speak to a group at large without addressing anyone in particular.
- Un capitaine d'industrie The head of a large company.
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Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.
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