# return to one's muttons

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/return-to-ones-muttons
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To get back to the business at hand.

## Examples

- Let us return to our muttons and finish the work.
- Please stop talking about the game so we can return to our muttons.
- After a long discussion about the weather, the manager asked the team to return to their muttons.
- While the stories about his vacation were funny, we really need to return to our muttons if we want to finish this report before the deadline.
- Though the digression was quite entertaining, the professor eventually insisted that the committee return to their muttons to address the urgent budget crisis.

## Origin

A humorous calque translation of the French phrase *revenons à nos moutons*, originating in the 15th-century play *La Farce de maître Pierre Pathelin*. In the narrative, a draper attempts to prosecute a shepherd for the theft of his sheep, but repeatedly loses his train of thought to complain about a lawyer who has stolen his cloth; the judge is obliged to frequently remind the complainant to return to the subject of his livestock. The phrase entered English as a pointed method of suggesting a speaker abandon their digressions and resume the matter at hand.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.