wash one's dirty linen in public
(redirected from air one's dirty linen)wash (one's) dirty linen in public
To discuss very private, personal matters, especially that which may be sensitive or embarrassing, in public or with other people. It always makes me uncomfortable when John starts going into all his personal problems whenever our friends get together. I just wish he wouldn't wash his dirty linen in public like that. People have an unnatural fixation on the personal lives of celebrities, but I don't see why they should be expected to wash their dirty linen in public.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
wash one's dirty linen in public
Also air one's dirty linen or laundry . Expose private matters to public view, especially unsavory secrets. These metaphors are reworkings of a French proverb, Il faut laver son linge sale en famille ("One should wash one's dirty linen at home"), which was quoted by Napoleon on his return from Elba (1815). It was first recorded in English in 1867.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
wash one's dirty linen in public, to
To expose one’s private affairs in public, particularly any unsavory family secrets. This metaphor is a French proverb that became famous when Napoleon used it in a speech before the French Assembly upon his return from exile in Elba in 1815. It was picked up by numerous English writers, among them Trollope, who wrote (The Last Chronicle of Barset, 1867), “There is nothing, I think, so bad as washing one’s dirty linen in public.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
- wash (one's) dirty linen in public
- wash one's dirty linen in public, to
- wash your dirty linen in public
- wash (one's) dirty laundry in public
- air (one's) dirty laundry in public
- air (one's) dirty linen in public
- air dirty linen in public
- (one) does not wash (one's) dirty linen in public
- dirty laundry
- Do not wash your dirty linen in public