Italian Idiomatic Expressions: Which Fish to Catch

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 is (kind of) about fish, in honor of my recent trip to Venice:

Non so che pesci pigliare.

Now, why would you say something as hopeless sounding and vague as “I don’t know what to do” (which is what this is supposed to convey) when you could say “I don’t know which fish to catch” instead? Yes, that’s what this literally means, and it strikes me that a hungry person would just catch whatever fish was available. Clearly whoever coined this phrase didn’t have a rumble in his stomach.

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.