/sə pʁɑ̃dʁ puʁ lə nɔ̃bʁil dy mɔ̃d/ lit. ‘take yourself for the navel of the world’
French idiom, familiar. To want special treatment that nobody else gets.
Draft Not yet checked by a native French speaker.
How do people use Se prendre pour le nombril du monde
?
Familiar and a little mocking, used about a colleague, a sibling or a celebrity who expects everyone to arrange things around them. It’s nearly always said about somebody else: “il se prend pour le nombril du monde”. “Pense que” and “croit que” work too (“elle croit qu’elle est le nombril du monde”).
Also said se croire le nombril du monde, être le nombril du monde
Se prendre pour le nombril du monde
in real sentences
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Il se prend vraiment pour le nombril du monde !
He really thinks he’s the centre of the universe.
Tatoeba, sentence by Cocorico, translation by sundown, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Marika pense parfois qu’elle est le nombril du monde.
Marika sometimes thinks she’s the center of the world.
Tatoeba, sentence by Amastan, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Se prendre pour le nombril du monde
come from?
French Wiktionary dates “nombril du monde” to the 17th century and quotes a theological dictionary from about 1560 where “nombril de la terre” simply meant the middle of the earth. English Wiktionary compares the Russian “пуп земли” (navel of the earth). The ancient Greeks called a stone at Delphi the “omphalos”, the navel of the world, but no source checked links the French phrase directly to it.
Mistakes learners make with Se prendre pour le nombril du monde
Mixing it up with “se regarder le nombril” (to gaze at your navel). That one means being wrapped up in your own thoughts and problems; “le nombril du monde” is about expecting the world to revolve around you.
Other French idioms like Se prendre pour le nombril du monde
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?
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