Italian Idiomatic Expressions: Hair on the Tongue

I love Italian idiomatic expressions – those sayings you just can’t translate directly but which make the Italian language the colorful and charming language it is.

Today’s saying will put hairs on your tongue:

Non ha peli sulla lingua.

The idea this phrase is meant to get across is that “He/she speaks his/her mind.” But rather than say it so literally, the Italians have come up with a more interesting way of indicating this. The phrase above literally translates to “He/she doesn’t have hairs on his/her tongue.” No hairs on the tongue presumably means there’s nothing to get in the way when someone’s opinions roll downhill from the brain!

I’ll keep sharing Italian idiomatic expressions with you periodically; and if you’ve got a favorite saying, let me know!

If you like this one, check out some of the other Italian idiomatic expressions I’ve posted about, too.