Common Italian expression
| Literally | To dilute the broth |
| Meaning | To stretch something out unnecessarily |
| IPA pronunciation | /alluŋˈɡaːre il ˈbrɔːdo/ |
Allungare il brodo
To stretch/drag something out
Examples
Ho allungato un po’ il brodo per raggiungere la lunghezza di 500 parole richiesta dal compito.
I strung the text out a bit to reach the length of 500 words required by the assignment.
Se imbocchiamo la via a destra, allungheremo il percorso di 10 km.
If we take the road to the right, we will increase the distance by 10 km.
Where does this idiom come from?
The primary meaning of allungare is to lengthen, from the adjective lungo, long. In this case, it means to dilute, to water down.
Broth is a very nutritious food. For example, Italian nonne (grandmothers) will often give you some hot broth when you are sick to help you fight the infection and feel better.
When you dilute broth, you’re adding something unnecessary because water has no nutritional value. By the same reasoning, flowery language doesn’t convey any additional information in a message.
Variations
- tirarla per le lunghe (to drag sth out)
- farla lunga (to drag sth out)
- dilungarsi (to talk at length)
Related lessons
- allungare (to lengthen, to dilute)
- brodo (broth)
- definite articles
More free Italian resources
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