comme il faut or comme-il-fault

French expression that literally means "as it should be", "it is necessary" ; comme as il faut it should. The expression first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1756, and now bears the meaning of proper, according to conventions or standards.

It is a widely spread French saying, with the same meaning in many languages, for instance Spanish, Portugese, German, Swedish, Dutch and Polish.

Example: "What's the comme il fault when it comes to nodevertising in the chatterbox ? " - "Don't."


This is an entry in the mini series about French idioms in the English language.

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