Francophonie· medium

avoir d'autres chats à fouetter

to have other cats to whip

Meaning

to have more important things to do

Explanation

This expression means to have better things to do or more pressing matters to attend to.

Example

Je ne peux pas t'aider maintenant, j'ai d'autres chats à fouetter.

I can't help you now, I have other fish to fry.

Origin

From the 17th century. Related to older sayings like 'éveillé comme un chat qu'on fouette' (alert like a whipped cat) and 'il n'y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat' (not worth whipping a cat over, i.e. it's trivial).

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