Essuyer les plâtres

Imagine your friend invited you for dinner and wants you to try her new, experimental dish. She jokes, "You're about to essuyer les plâtres of my latest culinary creation. Bon...
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Aller plus vite que la musique

Imagine you are at a wild dance party. The beats are pumping, the music is grooving, and everyone is shaking their groove thing. In the midst of all this excitement, there is...
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Se monter le bourrichon

"Se monter" means "to wind oneself up," but we're not talking about winding yourself up like a toy robot. We're talking about winding yourself up like a French person who just...
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Se prendre la tête

This familiar expression literally translates to taking one's head.  But don't worry, no one is actually going around collecting heads in France anymore.  Il/elle se prend la...
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Ne pas manger de ce pain-là

Translated literally as, not eating that kind of bread, this expression means refusing to act in a way that goes against your values, steering clear of a situation or behavior...
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Tiré par les cheveux

This somewhat painful expression literally translates to pulled by the hair.  You'll often hear it as an exclamation: c'est tiré par les cheveux!  The context, however, seldom...
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Appuyer sur le champignon

Do you often dream of stepping on the gas when you drive?  Then this common vegetable expression is for you.  It litterally translates as pressing the mushroom and means to...
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Faire la pluie et le beau temps

Wouldn't you feel powerful if you could control the weather?  Faire la pluie et le beau temps - to make rain and nice weather - means exactly that.  The expression describes...
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