Appendix:Snowclones/cachez ce X que je ne saurais voir

French

Etymology

Abstracted from cachez ce sein que je ne saurais voir (hide that breast which I ought not to see), variant of a line from Le Tartuffe, ou L'Imposteur (1664) by Molière:

Couvrez ce sein que je ne saurais voir.
Par de pareils objets les âmes sont blessées,
Et cela fait venir de coupables pensées. (Act III, scene ii)

(Cover that breast which I ought not to see. By such things are souls wounded, and it brings guilty thoughts.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ʃe sə ... k(ə) ʒə n(ə) sɔ.ʁɛ vwaʁ/

Phrase

cachez ce X que je ne saurais voir

1. (snowclone, humorous) used to indicate an unwillingness to see something
2. (snowclone, ironic) suggests that someone else is demanding that X be hidden or suppressed, and that this is hypocritical, disingenuous, unreasonable, prudish, etc.