Un enfant de la balle
Meaning: Someone raised in the trade they now practice.
Language: French
Literally: A child of the ball
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The balle is the ball of jeu de paume, the ancestor of tennis, whose professionals raised their children in the courts. It spread first to circus and theater families and then to any inherited profession.
More idioms — Daily Life
- L'enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions — Meaning well counts for nothing without acting well.
- Envers et contre tous — In defiance of universal opposition.
- À l'envi — Vying with one another; each trying to outdo the rest.
- Jeter l'éponge — To give up and concede.
- Passer l'éponge — To forgive and say no more about it.
- L'esprit de l'escalier — The perfect retort that arrives only after you have left.
More French idioms
- Tomber dans l'escarcelle de quelqu'un — To end up in someone's possession, often without their working for it.
- À bon escient — Advisedly; with proper judgment about when to do it.
- Des espèces sonnantes et trébuchantes — Hard cash, as opposed to promises or credit.
- D'estoc et de taille — With everything one has, by every available means.
- Ne connaître ni d'Ève ni d'Adam — Not to know someone at all.
- Fauché comme les blés — Completely broke.
From our false friends
- Coin — Actually means 'corner'. A coin you spend is une pièce.
- Chance — Actually means 'luck'. Bonne chance! = Good luck! For chance (probability), say une possi…
- Sympathique — Actually means 'nice' or 'pleasant'. Il est très sympathique = He's very nice — not 'He's…
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