FrenchTirer son épingle du jeu
Meaning: To extract yourself cleverly from a tricky situation.
Literally: To pull your pin out of the game
Example: “Quand l'entreprise a fait faillite, il a su tirer son épingle du jeu.” — When the company went bankrupt, he managed to get out without losing anything.
English equivalent: To come out smelling like a rose
Origin: Épingle here is a pin, and the usual explanation is a 16th-century children's game in which pins were laid in a circle and knocked out with a ball, the aim being to get one's own pin out first. That account is not confirmed. What is documented is the sense: the Académie française recorded tirer son épingle du jeu in 1762 for getting oneself out of a dangerous affair, and Stendhal used it in Lucien Leuwen (1834).
Equivalents in other languages
English: come out smelling like a rose
More French idioms
- Être soupe au lait To be quick-tempered and flare up easily.
- Ne pas être sorti de l'auberge To be far from done with one's troubles.
- Avoir la pêche To be full of energy and on top form.
- Faire chou blanc To draw a complete blank; to fail.
- Avoir une araignée au plafond To be a little crazy.
- Ramener sa fraise To butt in or show off uninvited.
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