Prendre la mouche
Meaning: To take sudden and disproportionate offense.
Language: French
Literally: To take the fly
Category: Animals
Origin: The mouche is the gadfly whose bite sends cattle stampeding without warning. The phrase describes the suddenness of the reaction rather than its cause.
More idioms — Animals
- 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.
- Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop — You cannot permanently suppress your real character.
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 false friends
- Sensible — Actually means 'sensitive'. For sensible/level-headed, say raisonnable.
- Librairie — Actually means 'bookshop'. A library is une bibliothèque.
- Pain — Actually means 'bread'. The hurting kind of pain is la douleur.
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