C'est pas la mer à boire

Amy was on her first trip to France, determined to blend in like a true Parisienne - beret, scarf, confidence and all. But when she realized she’d have to order a croissant in French, she froze like a baguette in the freezer. “I can’t do it,” she whispered, clutching her phrasebook like a life raft. “What if I say le croissant wrong?  Her friend Susan rolled her eyes and said, “Amy, c’est pas la mer à boire!” After all, nobody was asking her to recite Victor Hugo, just to point at a pastry and say bonjour. Emboldened by this, Amy approached the counter, ordered with a shaky “un croissant, s’il vous plaît” - and lived to tell the tale, flaky crumbs and all.

Whenever someone is being overdramatic about a simple task, “c'est pas la mer à boire” is your go-to phrase to bring them back to reality, with a gentle splash of perspective.  The phrase is used to reassure someone or to downplay the difficulty of a task. It’s like saying: “Come on, it’s not that big of a deal!" 

Origin

The expression dates back to the 17th century and plays on absurd hyperbole and imagery.  Imagine someone waking up and thinking, “Today, I’ll drink the entire sea!” Clearly,  an impossible and ridiculous task.  So when someone says "c’est pas la mer à boire," they’re essentially saying, “Relax, it’s not like I’m asking you to chug the Atlantic.” In other words: it’s totally manageable.

It belongs to the same colorful family of exaggerated metaphors as "c’est pas sorcier" (it’s not wizardry).  The difference? C’est pas sorcier means something isn’t complicated or brain-bending - similar to "it's not rocket science."  C’est pas la mer à boire is more about a task not being physically or emotionally overwhelming - like doing the dishes, not decoding ancient runes.

Note that  “c’est pas” is simply the informal, spoken shortcut for “ce n’est pas”.  French speakers have been dropping the ne in speech for centuries; a habit known as "la chute du n" (the "n" drop)  The ne is now mostly a marker of formality, not an essential part of everyday speech.  Many idioms, proverbs, and common phrases are remembered in their colloquial forms because that’s how people actually say them in conversation.  

Examples

Il râle pour monter trois étages à pied, mais franchement, c’est pas la mer à boire.
He's complaining about walking up three flights of stairs, but honestly, it's no big deal.

Apprendre dix mots de vocabulaire par jour, c’est pas la mer à boire!
Learning ten vocabulary words a day isn’t the end of the world!

Tu peux bien faire la vaisselle ce soir, c’est pas la mer à boire!
You can do the dishes tonight, it’s not that much to ask!