French Expression of the Day: Coude-à-coude

Why do I need to know coude-à-coude?

Because this comes up in certain types of sport, as well as when discussing politics and elections.

What does it mean?

Coude-à-coude - roughly pronounced cood ah cood - translates as 'elbow to elbow' in French, though sometimes it is spelled coude à coude.

This expression does not have to do with a place being overcrowded - for that you could say bondé, blindé or surchargé. Instead, it is 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.

During the 2022 French presidential race, media used it to describe the close polling scores between Macron and his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen. For example, one headline read: Sondage présidentielle : Macron et Le Pen au coude à coude (Presidential poll: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen are neck-and-neck)

Be careful not to confuse coude-à-coude with another elbow-related phrase: se serrer les coudes. This translates literally as 'linking elbows', but it actually means uniting with someone or something to face a common enemy. In English we might say 'standing shoulder to shoulder'. 

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.