Virer sa cuti
Meaning: To undergo a complete change of convictions.
Language: French
Literally: To turn one's skin test
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The cuti-réaction was the tuberculin skin test, and virer sa cuti meant converting from a negative reading to a positive one — a definitive, one-way change of state. It transferred to politics and religion in the 20th century.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Au grand dam de quelqu'un — To someone's considerable detriment or annoyance.
- Trouver son chemin de Damas — To undergo a sudden and total conversion.
- Une épée de Damoclès — A disaster hanging over someone, liable to fall at any moment.
- Entretenir une danseuse — To maintain a costly indulgence that serves no purpose.
- À l'usage du Dauphin — Expurgated; censored for delicate sensibilities.
- Les dés sont pipés — The outcome is rigged in advance.
More French idioms
- Au débotté — On the spot, with no time to prepare.
- Les délices de Capoue — Comfort that saps the will to keep fighting.
- Après moi le déluge — What happens once I am gone is not my problem.
- Le démon de midi — The midlife crisis, especially its romantic form.
- Mentir comme un arracheur de dents — To lie brazenly and habitually.
- Dur à la détente — Slow to understand — or, in the other sense, reluctant to part with money.
From our compliments & insults
- Bête comme ses pieds — Really not very bright.
- Avoir un poil dans la main — To be incurably lazy.
- Tête de linotte — A scatterbrain who can't hold a thought.
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