In French when you make a good guess or choice, you are said to be making une bonne pioche or literally “a good pickaxe” [source].

The word pioche [pjɔʃ] means pickaxe, and also a stock or pile of undealt cards in a card game, and chance or luck. It comes from pic (woodpecker, pick), from the Vulgar Latin *piccus (sharp point, peak, spike, pike), from the Latin pīcus (woodpecker, griffin), from the Proto-Italic *pikos, from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (woodpecker; magpie), or from the Vulgar Latin *pīcca (pickaxe, pike), possibly from the Frankish *pikkōn (to peck, strike), from the Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (to pick, peck) [source].

Here are some examples of how pioche and related words are used:

• faire une mauvaise pioche = to pick the wrong card
• manche de pioche = pickaxe handle
• pioche de jardinage = garden hoe
• piocher = to dig up, to take from the pile, to take a card
• piocher dans = to dip into
• piocher pour qch = to cram for sth

Are there any interesting equivalents of this phrase in other languages, or any pickaxe-related phrases?