Les Fourbenes de Scapin
Preserved but no longer current.
Scapin wants to bamboozle Geronte out of his money, and tells him that his master (Geronte's son) is detained prisoner on a Turkish galley, where he went out of curiosity. Geronte replies "What business had he to go on board the galley?" The phrase is applied to a person who finds himself in difficulties through being where he ought not to be, or in some unexpected pre- dicament.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Les Fourbenes de Scapin” mean?
Scapin wants to bamboozle Geronte out of his money, and tells him that his master (Geronte's son) is detained prisoner on a Turkish galley, where he went out of curiosity. Geronte replies "What business had he to go on board the galley?" The phrase is applied to a person who finds himself in difficulties through being where he ought not to be, or in some unexpected pre- dicament.
Is “Les Fourbenes de Scapin” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.