FrenchSentir la naphtaline
Meaning: To be old-fashioned or antiquated.
Literally: To smell of mothballs
Example: “Ce règlement intérieur sent la naphtaline, il date d'une autre époque.” — These house rules are so old-fashioned; they belong to another era.
Origin: Naphtaline is naphthalene, the strong-smelling chemical (named in 1821) that was sold for generations as white mothballs. They were tucked between stored linens and winter clothes, so anything taken out of an old wardrobe carried their smell. Something that smells of mothballs has been packed away for a long time, hence the sense of old-fashioned or out of date. Naphthalene mothballs have been banned in France and the rest of the EU since 2008, but the phrase has outlived them.
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