Tomber à pic
You are at a party, desperately trying to avoid that overly enthusiastic acquaintance who insists on sharing their vacation photos. Just as you feel cornered by that person, your friend swoops in, rescuing you with a perfectly timed hilarious story that makes everyone laugh. That's the sense of perfect timing or alignment that tomber à pic conveys. You would say that your friend tombe à pic - falls at the right time.
The expression tomber à pic means to come at just the right moment. It describes situations where something happens unexpectedly but turns out to be incredibly advantageous or fitting.
Tomber means to fall. Un pic in French is something pointy such as a
mountain peak or a pickaxe. It can also be short for un pic-vert - a woodpecker.
But none of these really help understand the meaning of the expression, does it?
Origin
The phrase à pic originates from the game of jeu de paume - litterally "palm game," an ancestor of modern-day tennis. Jeu de paume was very popular in the 17th century and played an important part in the education of princes. In the earliest versions of the game, players used their hands, instead of rackets, to hit the ball - hence the name. A particular point in this game is called the chasse pic, when the ball falls at a specific location on the court. Achieving this point at certain decisive moments of the game provides an advantage to the player who scores it. When the ball falls à pic, it allows scoring the right point at the right moment.
Interesting fact:
Did you know that the name "tennis" came from jeu de paume? Back then, when serving the ball, players would shout Tenez! which
means "Here it comes!" or "Incoming." And yes, in those days, the ending "z" was pronounced softly, not like the
silent ninja "z" we have today. Fast forward to when the game spread to England, and the English - bless their ears - heard "tenez" as
"tennis." And just like that, an exclamation became the name of a global, olympic sport!
Examples
La pluie est arrivée à pic pour arroser le jardin qui commençait à souffrir de la sécheresse.
The rain came just in time to water the garden that was starting to suffer from the drought.
Tu arrives à pic; on venait juste de se mettre à table
You arrive at the perfect time; we had just sat down to eat.
