Have you ever been so thrilled about something that it was hard to keep your excitement in check? If so, today’s idiom is just right for you!
non stare più nella pelle
to be excited / can’t wait
The literal translation of non stare più nella pelle from Italian is “not to stay in one’s skin anymore.” However, the idiomatic meaning is closer to “being unable to contain one’s excitement.” In English, we might use the following translations:
- can’t wait
- to be excited
- to look forward to
When this phrase isn’t used on its own, it is usually followed by the preposition per (for).
Non sto più nella pelle per il concerto di domani!
I can’t wait for tomorrow’s concert!
Sometimes you might come across the phrase without più (any more / no longer), especially in dictionaries. However, it is more common to hear it with più.
According to the Florence City and its source Adagi ma non troppo, the origin of this idiom can be traced back to the Roman poet Horace’s “Satires.” In these satires, Horace mentions a fable by Phaedrus involving a frog aspiring to grow as large as an ox. The frog, driven by its desire and excitement, keeps inflating itself with water until it ultimately bursts (or, in other words, it couldn’t “stay inside its skin”). Using Phaedrus’s frog story as an illustration, Horace conveys how excessive anticipation of something we desire can lead to irreversible consequences.
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.
