panier de crabes

== French == === Etymology === Literally, “basket of crabs”. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /pa.nje də kʁab/ === Noun === panier de crabes m (plural paniers de crabes) rat race; any organization where people metaphorically claw at one another to come out on top ==== Usage notes ==== This idiom is not generally used with "ouvrir". The phrase "ouvrir un panier de crabes" is a conflation of this idiom with the different idiom "ouvrir une boîte de Pandore" ("to open Pandora's box, a can of worms").