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You are in the right place to learn everything you ever wanted to know about the basic French expression “Je jette l’éponge”.
To be clear, it includes a full definition of what it is and how you can use it in everyday life with an audio example. And also the cool informations we added like dialogue example, synonym, slow pronunciation audio and more!
Oh and in case you are interested, you will find our others expressions explained on this page plus all our pages about French words on this page. Wishing you a happy learning!
This expression comes from the world of boxing, where the coach can throw his sponge (or towel) in the middle of the ring to request an end to the fight in place of his boxer.
If you want to say “I give up” in French you can simply say “J’abandonne.“
But if you want to be a bit more informal and original, use instead: “Je jette l’éponge” (Literally: “I throw the sponge“)
This is very similar to the English expression “To throw in the towel” which also refers to boxing. But why English chose the towel and French chose the sponge is a mystery…
