(Give Someone) Carte Blanche

[keannu]

https://www.idiomsandslang.com/give-...carte-blanche/
(Give Someone) Carte BlancheDefinition: Allow someone complete freedom; entrust a decision to someone
Example: I’ll give you carte blanche to hire whoever you think is best. I’m going on vacation, and I’ll be back in two weeks.==================================

"Carte Blanche" is from French, meaning "white paper". Do you use this idiom a lot?

There seems to be an origin for this from the UK as well like the following.

When King Charles the Second was fleeing the Roundheads, he is reputed to have offered his helpers a 'Carte Blanche'. This was a 'White Card', a blank sheet of paper with his signature at the bottom. The recipient of this could then write anything they wanted above the royal signature and it would be legal.

[Tarheel]

https://www.idiomsandslang.com/give-...carte-blanche/
(Give Someone) Carte BlancheDefinition: Allow someone complete freedom; entrust a decision to someone
Example: I’ll give you carte blanche to hire whoever you think is best. I’m going on vacation, and I’ll be back in two weeks.==================================

"Carte Blanche" is from French, meaning "white paper". Do you use this idiom a lot?

Story:
When King Charles the Second was fleeing the Roundheads, he is reputed to have offered his helpers a 'Carte Blanche'. This was a 'White Card', a blank sheet of paper with his signature at the bottom. The recipient of this could then write anything they wanted above the royal signature and it would be legal.

It goes a long ways back.

(I think King Charles was the one who lost his head.)

[Skrej]

Again, it's difficult to say how frequently we use a given idiom. I think what you're really asking is something like "how often to you use this idiom when the situation allows it"? I have no idea how to accurately track that, because I don't keep tabs on every situation I've used an idiom!

Have I used it? Maybe a few times.

The other issue is, is that for any given situation, there are usually several different idioms that would work equally well. People tend to stick to their preferred idiom for a given situation, simply because there are so many idioms to choose from.

You've got to use some criteria for deciding which one to use, so instead of trying to alternate through them all, people tend to pick one and stick with it for that context. Possibly because they like it, or it's the one they heard their parents use, or who knows why.