Se mettre le doigt dans l'œil
Meaning: To be completely and obviously wrong.
Language: French
Literally: To put one's finger in one's eye
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: The polite explanations reach for someone crossing themselves so clumsily at the font that they poke themselves in the eye — and those explanations are themselves putting a finger in an eye. In slang œil also means the anus, and in common speech error is habitually described with images from below the belt: to be wrong is se foutre dedans, and being deceived by someone draws frankly sodomitical language. Read that way the finger needs no explaining, and the phrase describes deceiving yourself rather than being deceived. Since doigt and œil are now generally understood in their innocent senses — probably for the best — the expression grew intensifiers as the error grows: jusqu'au coude (up to the elbow), or even jusqu'à l'omoplate (up to the shoulder blade).
More idioms — Body & Senses
- À l'œil — Free of charge.
- L'avoir dans l'os — To come off badly; to be had.
- Coûter la peau des fesses / Coûter les yeux de la tête — To cost an absolute fortune.
- Rouler un patin / Rouler une galoche — To kiss deeply, with tongue.
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
More French idioms
- Faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties — Don't push it; don't take it too far.
- Être à l'ouest — To be out of it; not with it at all.
- Avoir des oursins dans la poche / Avoir des oursins dans le porte-monnaie — To be tight-fisted.
- Sur la paille — Reduced to real poverty.
- Avoir un nom à coucher dehors — To have a name nobody can pronounce or remember.
- Être dans les petits papiers de quelqu'un — To be in someone's good books; to enjoy their favor.
From our compliments & insults
- Peau de vache — A mean, difficult, and unpleasant person — tough and unyielding like tanned hide.
- Tu as une cervelle de moineau — You're scatterbrained and forgetful.
- Tu es mon rayon de soleil — A warm way to tell someone they brighten your day.
Browse all compliments & insults →
Loading the full interactive collection…