Do you have hair on the tongue?

Today we are looking at idiomatic expressions in other foreign languages. And the first one is a Spanish idiom ‘‘no tener pelos en la lengua’’ or ‘not to have hair on the tongue.’’ When someone does not ‘‘have hair on the tongue’’, he/she always speaks his/her mind and always tells how it is. Another Spanish idiom with hair is ‘‘tomar el pelo’’ or literally translated ‘‘to take the hair’’. It is often used to point out that a person is tricking someone or making good-natured fun of someone else.

One of our favourite Spanish idioms is ‘‘estar más sano que una pera’’; its literal translation is ‘‘to be healthier than a pear’’. Some Spaniards would prefer to use ‘‘to be healthier than an apple’’ version – ‘‘estar más sano que una manzana’’; either way, the question remains the same: can you really be healthier than a fruit?

The best advice to those who are translating idioms will be not ‘‘devenir chêvre’’ (‘‘to become a goat’’ or in plain English, not to be driven mad by it).