One lesson I’m trying to teach my son is not to let the other kids in his class boss him around. I want him to feel confident standing up for himself, especially if he’s being pressured into doing something he doesn’t want to do. In Italian, there’s a great expression for someone who allows themselves to be pushed around: farsi mettere i piedi in testa — literally, “to let someone put their feet on your head.”
farsi mettere i piedi in testa
to let someone walk all over you / push you around
In English, there are a few possible equivalents for this phrase. One is the similar-sounding “to let someone walk all over you” but it may also be translated as “to let someone push you around” or “to let someone boss you around”.
Sara è una che non si fa mettere i piedi in testa da nessuno.
Sara doesn’t let anyone push her around.
Sometimes mettere might be substituted by lasciare, which means to leave, or to let in this case. Whichever verb you use, the meaning is the same.
If you’re telling someone not to boss you around, you can actually replace i piedi with li — any Italian will understand what you’re referring to from the context.
Non mettermeli in testa!
Don’t boss me around!
Literally: Don’t put them on my head!
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
