Whenever you narrowly manage to do something or just miss something, you can use the Italian idiomatic expression per un pelo, which literally means for a hair. Some possible English equivalents include by the skin of one’s teeth or by a hair’s breadth, but more often than not, we use simple adverbs such as nearly, …
An Italian idiom I learned from my husband early on in our relationship is arrampicarsi sugli specchi, which literally translates to climbing on mirrors. (And yes, before you ask, this is something of which I am guilty at times!) arrampicarsi sugli specchi to make desperate excuses to justify oneself or a situation Figuratively, it refers …
Imagine a workplace scenario where there’s a looming deadline, and everyone is scrambling to finish a critical project. However, one employee – let’s call him Marco – is sitting at his desk, meticulously organising paperclips by colour. In Italian, you could metaphorically describe Marco’s engagement in a pointless and trivial activity as pettinare le bambole, …
A bastian contrario is a polemical individual who adopts opinions and attitudes that go against those held by the majority, so fare il bastian contrario can be translated as “to be contrary” or “to be a contrarian.” fare il bastian contrario to be contrary Before we take a look at the word bastian, which has …
Italians have many ways to refer to someone who doesn’t like to spend money. You might be called spilorcio, taccagno, tirato, or tirchio. But if they want to sound more poetic, they’ll use the idiomatic expression avere le braccine corte. avere le braccine corte to have short arms Avere le braccine corte literally translates to …
If you try something new and find yourself enjoying it more and more despite initially thinking you wouldn’t, you might say that you’ve “developed a taste” or “taken a liking” to it in English. In Italian, there’s a similar expression: prenderci gusto. prenderci gusto to develop a taste / take a liking Prendere is an …