Un pince-sans-rire
Meaning: Someone who jokes with a completely straight face.
Language: French
Literally: A pinch-without-laughing
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From an old game in which a player blackened his fingers and pinched another's face while both tried not to laugh. The phrase kept the composure and dropped the soot.
More idioms — Daily Life
- N'être pas à prendre avec des pincettes — To be in such a foul mood as to be unapproachable.
- Damer le pion à quelqu'un — To outmaneuver someone decisively.
- Pas piqué des vers — Remarkable; really something.
- Savonner la planche à quelqu'un — To sabotage someone quietly so they fail.
- Glisser une peau de banane — To engineer someone's public downfall.
- Battre son plein — To be in full swing.
More French idioms
- Péter les plombs — To lose one's temper completely.
- Faire le point — To take stock of where things stand.
- Pomme de discorde — The particular thing two parties are fighting over.
- En grande pompe — With elaborate ceremony.
- Comme le Pont-Neuf — In excellent shape despite considerable age.
- Enfoncer une porte ouverte — To make a great effort to establish something nobody disputes.
From our untranslatable words
- Épanouissement — The full flourishing of a person — blooming into your most complete, radiant self. More t…
- Ressourcement — The act of returning to one's roots or origins to find renewal — going back to a place, t…
- Dépaysement — The disorienting yet often pleasant feeling of being far from home, immersed in the unfam…
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