Why do I need to know être à l’ouest?
If double maths or long, tedious meetings, in person or via Zoom, are in your immediate future, you may need a quick way to explain why you were staring out of the window.
What does it mean?
The phrase to be in the west – pronounced et-ruh a loo-est – translates as “to be in the West”.
It’s believed to be related, but somewhat different, to the English phrase “go west”, which has darker undertones. In English, it was a slang term criminals used for being hanged, while soldiers in World War I used it to describe being killed.
It later came to mean being lost, disappearing, or ending in failure.
The French term is closer to the later English versions as it describes being lost in thought, daydreaming or ‘being miles away’.
Use it like this
Sorry, master, I was out west – Sorry, sir, I was miles away
Yes, his head is always west in physics class – Yes, his head is always elsewhere during physics lessons