Heather Broster
La goccia che fa traboccare il vaso (literally “the drop that makes the vase overflow”) refers to the latest occurrence in a series of cumulative small, unpleasant events that unexpectedly triggers a significant and sudden reaction. La goccia che fa traboccare il vaso It is identical in meaning to the English idiom “the straw that …
When my young son is tired or bored, he has the tendency to orbit around me, endlessly repeating the word mamma, in an effort to grab my attention. By the hundredth repetition, I occasionally can’t resist thinking to myself, “Ma smettila di rompermi le scatole!” (Don’t worry, I never actually say this to him! 😀) …
We conducted a survey on our Facebook group, asking them which words their parents used with them most frequently. Unsurprisingly, the short yet powerful word “basta” ranked very close to the top of the list. basta Basta, when used as an interjection, has a couple of primary translations in English. The first is (that’s) enough, …
If someone is truly getting on your nerves, you might feel tempted to tell them to get lost… or worse. In Italian, the act of telling someone to buzz off can be perfectly expressed with the idiom mandare a quel paese (literally “to send to that country / land / town”). Unlike some other coarser …
The opposite of a friend, or amico, in Italian is a nemico (enemy). It should be fairly easy to remember as it shares the same origin as the English word nemesis. Nemico is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles: But of course, in the scenario where your worst enemy is …
In most instances, the Italian word ragione directly corresponds to our English word reason. First and foremost, both reason and ragione denote the human ability to think, comprehend, and engage in logical reasoning. Some common expressions related to this definition of ragione include: Sono contento che tu abbia ascoltato la voce della ragione. I’m glad you …