se faire rouler dans la farine

“Se faire rouler dans la farine” is one of my all time favorite French expressions. The expression translates literally to “to get rolled in flour” but the real. Here are the English meanings:

  • to get ripped off
  • to get taken to the cleaners
  • to be taken for ride
  • to pull the wool over someone’s eyes

In France, the idiom is shortened to “se faire rouler” to mean to get ripped off. The expression can also be said as “rouler quelqu’un dans la farine”, or to rip somebody off.

According to expressio.fr, French-to-French traditions are simply to dupe or lie to somebody. The site suggests that actors in 19th century used to use flour as makeup and would dupe people with their identities.

example sentence:

  • J’ai trop payé pour cette bagnole pourrie. Je me suis fait roulé dans la farine! I payed too much for this piece of junk car. I got ripped off!

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