Dodged a bullet là gì

En anglais nous avons une expressions "to dodge a bullet". Selon allwords.com, ça veut dire "to have a narrow escape; to avoid injury." Example: "Harold dodged a bullet. He got a "D" on the final exam." Comment cet idiotisme est-il exprimé en français?

L'échapper belle (synonym: l'échapper de justesse) springs to mind.
"Harold l'a échappé belle. ..."

YYYesss!!! Thank you Cold Sweat! I've had the expression on the tip of my tongue for the past half hour and couldn't get it out!

For me, "to dodge a bullet" has a slightly different meaning. Suppose you applied for a job at a company. You really wanted the job, so you were very disappointed when you didn't get it. When you told your friend, he said: "I don't know Mike. Maybe you dodged a bullet on that one. I heard that the company is almost bankrupt/that the boss is really hard to work for." It's usually about something you want and it turns out to be a good thing that you didn't get it. Another example: "Mike, I'm sorry to hear you broke up with Susan." "Thanks but I think I dodged a bullet. She was pretty controlling. It's a good thing that the relationship didn't go any further."

In fact, "l'échapper belle" would perfectly express "to dodge a bullet" in your examples, Charlie Parker.
I now think that in Patrocle's example "to dodge a bullet" would be better translated by "avoir chaud": Harold a eu chaud. Il a eu un D à l'examen terminal.
You wouldn't use "avoir chaud", or so I think, for something you wanted and it turned out a good thing you didn't get it, whereas you could use "l'échapper belle": "Tu l'as peut-être échappé belle. J'ai entendu dire que l'entreprise était en train de faire faillite".

I honestly don't see a difference in meaning between avoir chaud and l'échapper belle, except that the latter in stronger in my opinion (greater danger and/or narrower escape); and the "bad thing = good thing after all" turnaround doesn't really appear in the French expressions.
I also agree with philosophia that without further context avoir chaud is better in the example sentence.

Harold a eu chaud. Il a eu un D à l'examen terminal.
Harold l'a échappé belle grâce à son D à l'examen terminal. Son père l'attendait à la sortie pour lui mettre une branlée en cas d'échec.

You're probably right. I guess I'm splitting hairs again...

Hello,

For all it's worth... I'm giving here the expressions as copied from Antidote :

Avoir eu chaud [Figuré] avoir peur, échapper de près à un danger. J’ai eu chaud!
L'échapper belle : se tirer d’un mauvais pas d’heureuse façon. Il l’a échappé belle.

I can't remember ever hearing « avoir eu chaud » in the third person. While I might say « J'ai eu chaud / On a eu chaud »,
I'd say : Tu l'as (vous l'avez) / Il l'a (ils l'ont) échappé belle (de justesse).

However - and I could be wrong - contrary to Cold_Sweat, I personally "feel" that avoir eu chaud is stronger, as there is the idea of danger / fright in it.

On this side of the Atlantic, we also say "avoir chaud" in the 3rd person : "il/elle a eu chaud". One more of our little differences I guess.
You can also say "c'était chaud" talking about a situation. This last expression can have other meanings too, but that's another question.

Don't get me wrong. The fact that I simply don't

hearing « avoir eu chaud » in the 3rd person as in « il a eu chaud » isn't sufficient to conclude that it's never said in Quebec. Il est grand, le Québec.

I just happen to

« échappé belle » in both patrocle's and Charlie's contexts.