The shelf / Talking / French
FRENCH
Appeler un chat un chat.
“To call a cat a cat.”
MEANS
To say it plainly. The opposite of beating around the bush.
Where's the bush?
Most of Northern Europe has no bush. It has a cat, circling a bowl of hot porridge, trying one side after another.
Source: Lawless French, Linternaute.
On the label: Beat around the bush
Watch it
The film: “This cat will never get to the point”
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The same idea, elsewhere
From “Beat around the bush” to French.
ENGLISHBeat around the bush.The one you know.From hunting: beaters drove birds out of the bushes. George Gascoigne, 1572 (Phrase Finder).
SWEDISHGå som katten kring het gröt.“Walk like the cat around hot porridge.”The Local Sweden, Omniglot.
GERMANWie die Katze um den heißen Brei herumgehen.“Go around like the cat around the hot porridge.”Duden.
DUTCHOm de hete brij heen draaien.“Turn around the hot porridge.”Onze Taal. The older Dutch form still had the cat in it.
FRENCHTourner autour du pot.“Turn around the pot.”Expressio (Racine, 1668).