Hands down
Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 8:32 am
Hi! Hi! Thanks for joining me for this new episode of the Authentic French podcast. I'm very happy to be back with you today. We're going to look at a new French expression together which is "haut la main". So we're going to see in detail right after how we use this expression in French.
But before moving on, I wanted to remind you that you can have access to the course "7 rules for speaking French without blocking" . As I must have already told you, it is a course that Johan created to help you have a method of learning French that allows you to move from understanding to expression.
So honestly, it's really great. It's a course that he's been running for 10 years, the beginning of Authentic French, so it's been several years now. But since then, the course has been enriched, there's been an update. So in fact, even if you've already taken it, I really invite you to take it again, a second time, because you'll find new things and it's really very interesting for you.
So you have the link to register which is in the netherlands whatsapp number data description. And if you can't do it, don't panic, you write to us at [email protected] and then you will receive a link to register directly.
So let's go back to our famous expression "haut la main". So we can already stop on the words that make up the expression. The first word is the word "haut", which means to be located above, which means that one is in a position, let's say, elevated. Then we have the word "main", so the hand, which is the part of the body that is located at the end of the arm.
So literally, high hand means a hand placed high up. But since it is an expression, well we will focus on its origin. In the 15th century, a person with high hands was someone very authoritarian. At the time, the hand was really a symbol of royal power. Little by little, the preposition "à" and the feminine mark "e" will disappear and give the current expression "haut la main".
In the 16th century, the expression was then used in the equestrian world to designate, let's say, riders and their mounts. And to control the horse, the latter had to hold their hand high. And with this attitude, they showed that they commanded the horse with perfect mastery and above all, a natural ease, let's say.
Today, the expression illustrates the ease and especially the authority with which a person carries out an action that is, let's say, comparable to that of a rider with his mount. So in fact the expression means easily, easily, without difficulty, with authority. It is to show that the person who experiences this situation, well, they experience it with ease, without difficulty.
By the way, there is a synonym for this expression, which is "fingers in the nose" and which means pretty much the same thing. It means that we succeed in something easily, with ease, without any difficulty.
But before moving on, I wanted to remind you that you can have access to the course "7 rules for speaking French without blocking" . As I must have already told you, it is a course that Johan created to help you have a method of learning French that allows you to move from understanding to expression.
So honestly, it's really great. It's a course that he's been running for 10 years, the beginning of Authentic French, so it's been several years now. But since then, the course has been enriched, there's been an update. So in fact, even if you've already taken it, I really invite you to take it again, a second time, because you'll find new things and it's really very interesting for you.
So you have the link to register which is in the netherlands whatsapp number data description. And if you can't do it, don't panic, you write to us at [email protected] and then you will receive a link to register directly.
So let's go back to our famous expression "haut la main". So we can already stop on the words that make up the expression. The first word is the word "haut", which means to be located above, which means that one is in a position, let's say, elevated. Then we have the word "main", so the hand, which is the part of the body that is located at the end of the arm.
So literally, high hand means a hand placed high up. But since it is an expression, well we will focus on its origin. In the 15th century, a person with high hands was someone very authoritarian. At the time, the hand was really a symbol of royal power. Little by little, the preposition "à" and the feminine mark "e" will disappear and give the current expression "haut la main".
In the 16th century, the expression was then used in the equestrian world to designate, let's say, riders and their mounts. And to control the horse, the latter had to hold their hand high. And with this attitude, they showed that they commanded the horse with perfect mastery and above all, a natural ease, let's say.
Today, the expression illustrates the ease and especially the authority with which a person carries out an action that is, let's say, comparable to that of a rider with his mount. So in fact the expression means easily, easily, without difficulty, with authority. It is to show that the person who experiences this situation, well, they experience it with ease, without difficulty.
By the way, there is a synonym for this expression, which is "fingers in the nose" and which means pretty much the same thing. It means that we succeed in something easily, with ease, without any difficulty.