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100% GOOD (2 votes)RespondidasQuestão de Linguagem
C’est le serpent qui se mord la queue : meaning ?

What's the exact meaning of this expression?

Are there equivalents in English? laugh


PS: Uncover free French lessons: Learning lesson: Choosing between il est and c'estUse of jamaisDouble object constructions with no prepositionme, te, se, nous, vous as part of certain verbs but with no specific meaning

DÊ RESPOSTAS

Setsukochan profile picture SetsukochanOctober 2019

Anglophones do not really have a ready-to-go phrase for that one, and although they would perfectly understand the metaphor of the "snake biting its tail" ("the cat biting its tail" is also quite popular), I believe they would more naturally say that a situation makes "no sense", or is like "a vicious circle". Don't forget to edit your initial message, "c'est le serpent qui se morD la queue"...

BriceJ profile picture BriceJOctober 2019
On appelle ça : Ouroboros.
Ça vient de la mythologie grecque.
Emileee profile picture EmileeeOctober 2019
"Qui se mord*"
"That's the snake who is biting himself", it means that it's a nonsense.