Une tour de Babel
Meaning: A place of hopeless confusion, especially one where nobody speaks the same language.
Language: French
Literally: A tower of Babel
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From Genesis, where humanity builds a tower to reach heaven and has its single language confounded into many so the work cannot continue. The name puns on Hebrew balal, to confuse.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Plier bagage — To pack up and clear off, usually in a hurry.
- Ça fait un bail — It has been ages.
- Un baiser de Judas — A show of affection that conceals a betrayal.
- La balle est dans votre camp — It is your turn to act; the decision now rests with you.
- Convoquer le ban et l'arrière-ban — To call in absolutely everyone available.
- Une république bananière — A corrupt, unstable state run for the benefit of a few private interests.
More French idioms
- Un travail de bénédictin — Painstaking, patient scholarly labor demanding enormous persistence.
- Le benjamin — The youngest member of a family, team or group.
- C'est la Bérézina — A total, chaotic disaster.
- Chercher la petite bête — To nitpick; to hunt for a trivial fault.
- Passer sur le billard — To undergo surgery.
- Se faire blackbouler — To be rejected, voted down or heavily defeated in an election.
From our compliments & insults
- Tu as de la répartie — You're brilliantly quick-witted — always ready with the perfect comeback.
- T'as pas inventé le fil à couper le beurre — You're not exactly a genius — the wire to cut butter is about the most obvious tool imagi…
- Tête de mule — An impossibly stubborn person who refuses to change their mind no matter what.
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