FrenchPrendre à la gorge
Meaning: To seize someone or something forcefully; to make breathing or speech difficult; to trigger strong emotion that leaves one breathless.
Literally: To take by the throat
Example: “Dès la première note, la voix de la chanteuse m'a pris à la gorge.” — From the very first note, the singer's voice caught me by the throat.
Origin: Seizing someone by the throat cuts off breath and speech at once and leaves them unable to resist. The literal phrase is in the Académie française's first dictionary (1694), and figurative uses came early: Pascal wrote of the miseries that "hold us by the throat," and in a Marivaux comedy of the 1720s a character complains that a little imp "has me by the throat." Today it covers both being overwhelmed by emotion and being squeezed by debts or deadlines.
More French idioms
- Chercher des misères To deliberately provoke a quarrel with someone.
- Faire florès To achieve success and build a reputation.
- Fuir comme la peste To avoid something or someone as much as possible.
- Beurrer épais (Quebec French) To exaggerate or overdo something.
- Retourner à la case départ To find oneself back where one began, as if no progress had been made.
- Sentir la naphtaline To be old-fashioned or antiquated.
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