French expression of the day: Coude-à-coude
In French, elbows are a key feature of any kind of tense contest.
Why do I need to know coude-à-coude?
Because it’s pretty key to discuss politics in France, which, if you've visited the country, you will know happens quite a lot, or certain types of sport.
What does it mean?
Coude means ‘elbow’ in French, so coude-à-coude translates to ‘elbow-to-elbow’.
Sometimes spelled coude à coude, this expression is a figurative way of saying that two contestants are ‘neck and neck’ or very close.
Coude-à-coude can be used about sports races (you will undoubtedly hear it during Tour de France), about politics - really any competition where the race is close.
As the French 2022 presidential race hotted up, media used it to describe the close polling scores between Macron and his far-right rival.
Emmanuel Macron et Marine Le Pen au coude-à-coude, selon un sondage - Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen are neck-and-neck, according to one poll
If was also used about the 2020 US presidential elections, such as this Le Monde headline:
Elections américaines 2020 : Donald Trump et Joe Biden au coude-à-coude, les Etats-Unis se déchirent. - American 2020 elections: Donald Trump and Joe Biden are neck and neck, the US is tearing apart.
Use it like this
C'est très serré en tête de la course, les Français et les Anglais sont au coude-a-coude pour la victoire - It's really tight at the head of the race, the French and English are neck and neck for victory.
Je n'aime pas trop le fait qu'ils soient autant au coude-à-coude.. Je crains qu'il y aura des gens qui ne respectent pas le resultat. - I don't really like the fact that the race is so close. I fear that some people won't respect the result.
Not to be confused with
Se serrer les coudes - literally translating as 'linking elbows' this means uniting with someone or something to face a common enemy. In English we might say 'standing shoulder to shoulder.
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Why do I need to know coude-à-coude?
Because it’s pretty key to discuss politics in France, which, if you've visited the country, you will know happens quite a lot, or certain types of sport.
What does it mean?
Coude means ‘elbow’ in French, so coude-à-coude translates to ‘elbow-to-elbow’.
Sometimes spelled coude à coude, this expression is a figurative way of saying that two contestants are ‘neck and neck’ or very close.
Coude-à-coude can be used about sports races (you will undoubtedly hear it during Tour de France), about politics - really any competition where the race is close.
As the French 2022 presidential race hotted up, media used it to describe the close polling scores between Macron and his far-right rival.
Emmanuel Macron et Marine Le Pen au coude-à-coude, selon un sondage - Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen are neck-and-neck, according to one poll
If was also used about the 2020 US presidential elections, such as this Le Monde headline:
Elections américaines 2020 : Donald Trump et Joe Biden au coude-à-coude, les Etats-Unis se déchirent. - American 2020 elections: Donald Trump and Joe Biden are neck and neck, the US is tearing apart.
Use it like this
C'est très serré en tête de la course, les Français et les Anglais sont au coude-a-coude pour la victoire - It's really tight at the head of the race, the French and English are neck and neck for victory.
Je n'aime pas trop le fait qu'ils soient autant au coude-à-coude.. Je crains qu'il y aura des gens qui ne respectent pas le resultat. - I don't really like the fact that the race is so close. I fear that some people won't respect the result.
Not to be confused with
Se serrer les coudes - literally translating as 'linking elbows' this means uniting with someone or something to face a common enemy. In English we might say 'standing shoulder to shoulder.
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