Se faire la malle
Meaning: To clear off; to make a run for it.
Language: French
Literally: To make oneself the trunk
Category: Daily Life
Origin: A malle is the trunk you pack for a journey, and faire sa malle — to pack it — was once ordinary language for preparing to travel. The reflexive twist appears around 1935, of a prisoner escaping, and is built like the slang se faire la belle and se faire la paire: the escapee has figuratively gone on a trip, and so has taken his trunk with him, however unlikely it is that he stopped to pack. The word has a grim history in these phrases. In the 16th century trousser en malle meant to carry off by surprise; by the 17th, troussé en malle meant dead, which suggests how those carryings-off usually ended. Plier sa malle meant to die at the end of the 17th century and faire sa malle meant the same by the end of the 19th, and at just the moment our expression appears, faire la malle à quelqu'un meant to walk out on them.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Faire le mariole — To show off; to play the smart aleck.
- Fumer la moquette — To be talking obvious nonsense; to be off one's head.
- Sauver les meubles — To salvage what matters from a disaster.
- Pédaler dans la semoule — To be confused and getting nowhere.
- Avoir d'autres chats à fouetter — To have more important things to do.
- Avoir le cul entre deux chaises — To be indecisive, caught between two options.
More French idioms
- Avoir vu le loup — Said of a young woman, to have had sex; also, in some regions, to be hoarse.
- Ne pas y aller de main morte — To hit hard; to act without the slightest restraint.
- Bourrer le mou — To feed someone lies; to try to con them.
- Enculer les mouches — To split hairs; to fuss over trivial detail. Vulgar.
- Être dans la mouise / Être dans la panade / Être dans la purée — To be broke and in real trouble.
- Laisser pisser le mérinos — To let things take their course; to wait it out.
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