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Informal French Expression
| Meaning | To be quiet, stay silent, hold one’s tongue | |
| Literally | To put one’s tongue in one’s pocket | |
| Register | informal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[meh tr(eu) sah la(n)g da(n) sah puhsh] |
| IPA | [mɛtʁə sa lãg dã sa pɔʃ] | |
Usage notes: The French idiom mettre sa langue dans sa poche means "to not say anything," which makes sense – if your tongue is in your pocket, you obviously can’t use it.
Par exemple…
| Jeannot sait ce qui s’est passé, mais il met sa langue dans sa poche. | Jeannot knows what happened, but he’s being quiet. | |
| Gêné par la discussion, j’ai mis ma langue dans ma poche. | Embarrassed by the discussion, I stayed silent / held my tongue. |
Antonymous expression
The flip-side of mettre sa langue dans sa poche is found in the expression ne pas avoir la langue dans sa poche, which means “to talk a lot, to say what one thinks, to always have a retort” (even if it’s tactless or embarrassing).
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