French word of the day: Cadeau empoisonné
Why do I need to know cadeau empoisonné ?
Because this expression will help you illustrate your evil side.
What does it mean ?
The expression is composed of
cadeau
, which means 'gift', and
empoisonné
, meaning 'poisoned'.
So a
cadeau empoisonné
is literally a poisoned gift. Obviously, it is not exactly nice.
It is a figurative way of saying that you are getting rid of something annoying, boring or difficult by passing it on somebody else - the English would be to hand someone a poisoned chalice.
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But here is the subtlety of
cadeau empoisonné -
you present the situation as if you were doing a favour to the person, to hide your real intentions. The person to whom you've given the
cadeau empoisonné
will first be thankful for the responsibility you've entrusted them with, until they realise why you did that. But it will be too late.
For example, when French Health minister Agnès Buzyn left her post at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis (because she has to take over from a
Paris mayoral candidate with a certain online video
) her replacement Olivier Véran received a big promotion - and an enormous challenge to deal with. He got a real
cadeau empoisonné
.
Through history and mythology there are numerous examples of 'poisoned gifts' - from the Trojan horse to Snow White's apple - but the most famous French story of this is almost certainly untrue.
The legend goes that the Medieval French queen Catherine de Medici gave her daughter's future mother-in-law Jeanne Albret, the Huguenot Queen of Navarre, a gift of perfumed leather gloves which were laced with poison, killing the protestant queen.
In fact, Jeanne had tuberculosis, which is almost certainly what killed her, and the poisoned glove story was part of a smear campaign against Catherine, who was nicknamed
la reine serpent
(the serpent queen) by her political enemies.
Use it like this
Confier toute l'organisation au stagiaire la veille de la réunion était un cadeau empoisonné -
Putting all of the organisation in the intern's hands the day before the meeting was a poisoned chalice.
J'ai hérité de la maison de ma tante mais il faut faire beaucoup de travaux, c'est un vrai cadeau empoisonné -
I inherited of my aunt's house but there is a lot of construction work to do, it's more of a curse than a blessing.
Synonyms
Refiler la patate chaude à quelqu'un -
To pass the hot potato on to someone
Refiler le bébé
à quelqu'un
- to pass the buck to someone
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