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Se faire limoger

Meaning: To be relieved of a post; to be sacked.

Language: French

Literally: To get Limoged

Category: Daily Life

Origin: At the start of the First World War, Joffre removed a large number of generals from command and posted them to Limoges, safely away from the front. The town's name became a verb within months.

More idioms — Daily Life

  • Laver son linge sale en famille — Keep internal disputes private.
  • Par le petit bout de la lorgnette — From a needlessly narrow point of view.
  • Être une lumière — To be highly intelligent — used almost exclusively in the negative.
  • Une lune de miel — The first happy period of a marriage, or of any new arrangement.
  • Bien luné — In a good mood — and mal luné, in a bad one.
  • Depuis belle lurette — For ages; for a very long time.

More French idioms

  • Depuis des lustres — For a very long time.
  • Pleurer comme une Madeleine — To cry copiously and without restraint.
  • Une madeleine de Proust — A small sensory trigger that unlocks a flood of memory.
  • Avoir maille à partir avec quelqu'un — To have a quarrel or a bone to pick with someone.
  • Faire main basse sur quelque chose — To seize something wholesale.
  • S'en laver les mains — To disclaim all responsibility for an outcome.

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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