Une auberge espagnole
Meaning: A place or discussion in which you find only what you yourself brought to it.
Language: French
Literally: A Spanish inn
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: From the reputation of Spanish inns among 18th-century French travelers: they offered shelter and a fire but no food, so guests ate whatever they had carried in. Now used of debates and concepts into which each participant reads their own assumptions.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- La caque sent toujours le hareng — However far you rise, low origins always show through.
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
- Pédaler dans la semoule — To be confused and getting nowhere.
- Raconter des salades — To tell lies or tall tales.
- En faire tout un fromage — To make a big deal out of nothing.
More French idioms
- Ne pas être dans son assiette — To feel out of sorts, physically or mentally off-form.
- Se défendre bec et ongles — To fight back with everything you have.
- Connaître bibliquement — To have had sex with someone.
- Se faire de la bile — To worry oneself sick.
- Dans le plus simple appareil — Stark naked.
- L'arbre qui cache la forêt — A conspicuous detail that distracts attention from the larger reality behind it.
From our untranslatable words
- L'esprit de l'escalier — Thinking of the perfect comeback only after the moment has passed — on your way down the…
- Terroir — The unique character that a place — its soil, climate and tradition — gives to a wine or…
- Râler — To complain and grumble with a certain national flair — a beloved French pastime.
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