tourner autour du pot

to avoid getting to the point

This idiom means speaking indirectly and avoiding the main point.

Arrête de tourner autour du pot et dis-moi ce qui ne va pas.

Stop beating around the bush and tell me what's wrong.

It likely began as a 15th-century kitchen metaphor: someone hovering around a simmering cauldron, coming and going nearby in the hope of snatching a bite, i.e., trying to gain an advantage indirectly.