pis-aller
See also: pis aller
French edit
Etymology edit
From pis (“worse”) and aller (“to go”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
pis-aller m (plural pis-aller)
- make-do, a less than optimal solution, workaround, stopgap
- plan B; last resort
- 1994, Michel Houellebecq, Extension du domaine de la lutte:
- Aussi ai-je toujours senti, chez les femmes qui m’ouvraient leurs organes, comme une légère réticence ; au fond je ne représentais guère, pour elles, qu’un pis-aller.
- I also always sensed, in the women who would spread their legs for me, a slight reluctance; ultimately, to them I was just a last resort.
- worst case scenario
Descendants edit
- → English: pis aller
Further reading edit
- “pis-aller”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.