[eurasiantiger]

The term cul-de-sac is not that uncommon in American English, given the amount of suburbs having them.

[MonkeyMalarky]

Really wondering about the origin of that phrase. The literal translation is "ass of bag"?

[bombcar]

Fun fact: Tolkien hated English "borrowing" words from other languages that we had already - so he named his hero Bilbo Baggins (bag ends) of Bag End - where Bag End literally is the English for cul-de-sac (end of bag).

[C4stor]

Since a bag ("sac") has no exit hole ("cul"), and so a "cul-de-sac" is a (I guess 2nd degree ?) way of saying "way with no exit".

[jaclaz]

If you translate (instead of ass) cul as "bottom", it is more like the "bottom of a sack" (i.e. no-exit), if your interpretation was correct, it would be a no-cul-de-sac.

[pessimizer]

Or "way with one exit, and it's behind you."