Italian Idiom: Andare di lusso (to be lucky / to get off easy)

Imagine you visit a museum, expecting to pay around $20 per person for entry, but then you find out that it’s actually half-price admission that day. Or say that you don’t study for an exam, but still manage to pass with a good grade. In Italian, they might describe these kinds of situations using the …

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Italian Idiom: Non avere peli sulla lingua (to not mince words)

Do you know someone who always speaks their mind, even if it means being brutally honest? In Italian, you can describe this kind of straight talker as “not having hairs on their tongue”: non avere peli sulla lingua. This idiom can be translated in a few ways including: Non avere peli sulla lingua To not …

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Italian Idiom: Cascare come una pera cotta (to fall like a cooked pear)

Today we will be looking at an Italian idiom that revolves around one of Italy’s favourite sweet dishes, the pera cotta (cooked, poached or stewed pear). Although pere cotte are truly delicious, especially with a light sprinkling of zucchero (sugar), being called one isn’t exactly a compliment: it has the figurative meaning of weak or …

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