BLABEL Le chat à la bouche? When cats make you give up on a riddle

Expression du jour

Donner sa langue au chat (avouer ne pas avoir la réponse)

On disait déjà « jeter sa langue au chien », car c'était l'animal auquel on donnait les morceaux de viande de moindre valeur. Avec le temps, on a commencé à dire « donner sa langue au chat ». Le chat était considéré gardien des secrets et donc, pourrait donner la réponse recherchée.

Expression of the day

"Donner sa langue au chat" (to give your tongue to the cat, or to give up on answering a question)

Though this expression seems closely related to "cat got your tongue?", its etymology and meaning are both slightly different. Originally, people were said to "throw their tongue to the dog", an animal who usually got the least valuable pieces of meat, because their tongues had become useless. Over time, people were said to give their tongues to the cat, which was considered a keeper of secrets and therefore likely to be able to answer riddles.