FrenchTomber à l’eau
Meaning: To be canceled or abandoned.
Literally: To fall into the water
Example: “Il a neigé toute la nuit, et notre sortie à vélo est tombée à l'eau.” — It snowed all night, and our bike ride fell through.
English equivalent: To go up in smoke
Equivalents in other languages
English: go up in smoke
Origin: Literally, to fall overboard or into a river, and so to be lost: whatever falls into the water is gone. The figurative sense of a plan that comes to nothing is the one in everyday use, for trips called off by bad weather and deals that collapse at the last minute. French has a cousin with a separate story, tomber dans le lac, which Expressio traces to the old lacs, a snare for catching game, later confused with lac (lake).
More French idioms
- Ne plus savoir où donner de la tête To be overwhelmed with work or demands.
- Avoir les yeux qui sortent de la tête To stare with eyes wide open in anger or astonishment.
- Faire le pont-levis For a horse to rear up very high.
- Faire baiser les verges To force someone you have mistreated to beg your pardon.
- Retourner l’estomac To disgust or sicken someone, to make them feel nauseous.
- Ne pas avoir les yeux dans sa poche To be observant and alert; to miss nothing.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
- Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.
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