[This expression came to the front in Paris about the time of the 1889 Exhibition. In 1890 appeared a play called “Paris fin de siècle,” by Blum and Toché, in which occur these words: “C’est un mot nouveau qui dit très bien ce qu’il veut dire. Le siècle n’a plus que dix ans à vivre et, vois-tu, il veut les passer gaiement.” The saying, however, has lost its sense, and is becoming obsolete now that a new century has begun.]
Il sait le fort et le fin de son art = He knows every trick of his trade.
Plus fin que lui n’est pas bête = He who can take him in is no fool.
J’arrive du fin fond de l’Afrique = I have come from the very depths of Africa.
C’est une fine mouche (or, lame) = He is a cunning fellow, a sly dog. (See [Compère].)
C’est fin contre fin = It is diamond cut diamond.
[Also: Fin contre fin ne vaut rien pour doublure.]
Fin contre fin gare la bombe = “When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war.”