montrer patte blanche

Literally, “to show white paw”. From the French fable Le Loup, la Chèvre et le Chevreau by Jean de La Fontaine, where the biquet (“kid”) asks a visitor at the door [the wolf] to show his white paw.

• IPA^(key): /mɔ̃.tʁe pat blɑ̃ʃ/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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montrer patte blanche

1. (figuratively) to prove one's identity, to state one's credentials, to show one's ID, to present papers (to identify oneself to prove that one has the right to enter a place)
   • 2006, Virginie Despentes, “Salut les filles”, in King Kong Théorie [King Kong Theory], Éditions Grasset, →ISBN, page 137; republished as Stéphanie Benson, transl., King Kong Theory, 2009:

     Colette, Duras, Beauvoir, Yourcenar, Sagan, toute une histoire de femmes auteurs qui toutes prennent soin de montrer patte blanche, de rassurer les hommes, de s'excuser d'écrire en répétant, combien elles les aiment, les respectent, les chérissent, et ne veulent surtout pas – quoi qu'elles écrivent — trop foutre le bordel.

     Colette, Duras, Beauvoir, Yourcenar, Sagan —a whole history of female writers who all took care to prove their harmlessness, to reassure men, to beg pardon for the act of writing by repeating how much they love, respect and cherish men, and most of all don’t want — whatever they might write — to create too much trouble.

• décliner son identité