Englishwipe the slate clean
Meaning: To set a situation right or erase something bad.
Example: “The new year felt like a chance to wipe the slate clean.”
Equivalents in other languages
French: Passer l'éponge Literally: To pass the sponge
Origin: Slates were the ordinary medium of small-scale credit. Shopkeepers and publicans recorded what customers owed in chalk on a slate kept behind the counter, which is the origin of putting something on the slate for buying on credit, and settling the account meant the marks were wiped off and the slate returned to blank. The system was informal and entirely dependent on the record being visible and erasable, which is exactly what gives the idiom its force: wiping the slate does not conceal the debt or forgive it partially but removes the only evidence that it ever existed, restoring the relationship to its starting state. The phrase is attested in English from the 1800s, alongside the same slate's other use in schoolrooms.
More English idioms
- Look for a needle in a haystack To search for something you have almost no chance of finding, because the thing is tiny a…
- Know where the shoe pinches To know exactly where the real trouble lies.
- Take the wrong sow by the ear To go after the wrong target, or blame the wrong person.
- have the blues To feel sad or depressed.
- stand someone up To fail to show up for a date or appointment, leaving the other person waiting.
- have bigger fish to fry To have more important things to deal with.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
Short sayings of timeless wisdom from more than 50 cultures, each with its meaning and origin.
- 欲速则不达 (Yù sù zé bù dá) Trying to go too fast makes you fail.
- 朽木不可雕 (Xiǔ mù bù kě diāo) Some people or materials are beyond improving.
- 千里姻缘一线牵 (Qiān lǐ yīnyuán yí xiàn qiān) Couples who are meant to be together find each other, however far apart.
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