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The French idiom "C'est tiré par les cheveux"

On this page, we are going to show you all the things you need to know about the basic idiom "C'est tiré par les cheveux". More precisely, it includes a detailed guide of what it is and how you can use it in a dialogue with an audio example. Plus, we also added super useful stuff like literal meaning, dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio and more!


French to English translation

  • Translation : It's far fetched

  • Literal meaning : It's pulled by the hair

  • Register : Neutral - Basic

How to pronounce?

Slow

Normal

  • IPA : / sɛ tiʁe paʁ le ʃəvø /

aesthetic french quote tire par les cheveux

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What does it mean?

Definition

If you want someone to come with you to the restaurant, there are two options: ask this person nicely or pull him/her by the hair. The first one seems easy while the second is much more complex and illogical (but also illegal...).

That's why we use "C'est tiré par les cheveux" to say "It's far fetched" a.k.a. "It's illogical / complex / unnatural". Because it's so illogical that you need to get pulled by the hair to understand it.

How to use it

Let's say you are talking with someone about movies and this person tells you he/she didn't see "Inception". Then you spend the next 20 minutes trying to explain the entire story.

Once you finish, chances are that the other person will look at you with puffy eyes and say "Wow... c'est tiré par les cheveux". (Wow... that's far-fetched).

Fun fact

If you want to impress people, instead of the expression explained above, you can use "C'est capillotracté".

What is that? In Latin "Capillus" is "Hair" and "Tractatus" is "To pull". So "C'est capillotracté" is a fancy (and funny) way to say "C'est tiré par les cheveux."

Example in a dialogue with audio

Dialogue

Ce film est vraiment bizarre !

This movie is really weird!

Oui ! C'est tiré par les cheveux !

Yes! It's pulled by the hair

Carrément !

Totally!

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