FrenchUn coup de tabac
Meaning: A sudden violent squall at sea; by extension, a brutal turn of events.
Literally: A blow of tobacco
Example: “Un coup de tabac a surpris les voiliers au large de la Bretagne.” — A sudden violent squall caught the sailboats off the coast of Brittany.
Origin: The same root as the other tabac expressions and, once again, not the plant. Southern French had tabassar and tabustar from the 13th century for dealing out a beating or shaking someone about, and by the 17th donner du tabac meant to fight. The word for blows was crossed early with the word for the leaf and stayed stuck to it. Sailors produce this phrase at the start of the 19th century, with coup and tabac piled on top of each other for emphasis — both halves already mean a blow, which tells you how much weather they had in mind. Passer à tabac follows from the same source toward the end of the same century. On dry land a coup de tabac is any sudden event with heavy consequences.
More French idioms
- Être au taquet To be flat out, giving everything — or to have hit a limit that will not move.
- Le téléphone arabe Word of mouth — news traveling by rumor, fast and increasingly wrong.
- À tire-larigot In enormous quantities; to excess.
- Le torchon brûle There is open discord — most often between a couple.
- Y a pas à tortiller du cul Enough hesitating — a decision has to be made. Also: this is simply undeniable.
- Ne pas valoir tripette To be worthless; to be of no interest whatsoever.
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