Lexical Compendium

Wait... what is this? Sometimes I come across a word, phrase, idiom, quote, reference, bit of slang, person of interest, etc that either I don't know or I find amusing, interesting, etc. This is a collection of those items so that I can refer back to them in emails, texts, etc.

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no tener pelos en la lengua

This Spanish idiom literally translates to "to not have hairs on the tongue." The idiom is used to refer to someone who is outspoken, i.e. does not mince words.

For example:

No me gustó su pintura y le dije; yo no tenia pelos en la lengua.: I didn't like his painting and I told him so; I didn't mince words.

Interestingly, this idiom also exists in other languages. It means roughly the same thing in Italian, Welsh, and Croatian

The concept also exists in Greek and Turkish where it means "I'm tired of repeating myself."

While walking down the street, I heard two people talking about this idiom and it compelled me to research it. Idioms are great, aren't they?


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References:

Tags: idiom, foreign, language, spanish

Date Added: 06 Jan 2025

tilt at windmills

To tilt at windmills means to fight or pursue some imaginary adversary.

I've always found idioms to be an interesting part of language and this is one of my favorites. In Jr. High, my class read/translated Don Quixote de la Mancha, which is where this expression comes from.


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References:

Tags: idiom, Don Quixote

Date Added: 30 May 2024