Tirer une carotte


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Informal French Expression

Meaning	to swindle, trick
Literally	to pull a carrot
Register	informal
Pronunciation		[tee ray oon kah ruht]
IPA		[ti ʁe yn ka ʁɔt]

Usage notes: In the idiomatic French expression tirer une carotte (à quelqu’un), carotte refers to a swindle or trick, and tirer means to pull that swindle on someone, to trick her, to take him for a ride, to get her.

Par exemple…

Regarde, elle va essayer de tirer une carotte à ces étudiants.		Watch, she’s going to try to swindle those students.
Aurélie déteste ce type ; il lui a tiré une carotte l’année dernière.		Aurélie hates that guy; he tricked her last year.

Variations

tirer la carotte
tirer des carottes
tirer quelques carottes

Synonym: carotter

The interesting thing about the idiom tirer une carotte is that carotte represents something bad here. Other than perhaps in the expression les carottes sont cuites ! (it’s all over! we/you/they’ve had it!), in French and English "carrot" generally represents something good, as in

une carotte fiscale – tax incentive
la carotte ou le bâton – carrot or stick
marcher à la carotte – to follow the carrot
la politique de la carotte et du bâton – carrot and stick policy
tendre une carotte à quelqu’un – to offer someone a carrot, dangle a carrot in front of someone

Of course, that’s not to say that the expressions are necessarily positive, just that the carotte itself represents something good, even if its purpose within the phrase is nefarious.