Common Italian expression
| Pronunciation | |
| Literal translation | To go in goose (it has a horrible sound, I know) |
| English translation | To make a blunder, to wander off |
| Meaning | To make a mistake or wander off out of distraction |
Examples
| Sono andato in oca e ho buttato la pasta anziché metterla in frigo. | I wandered off and threw out the pasta instead of putting it in the fridge. |
| Gaia va spesso in oca durante i compiti in classe. | Gaia is often distracted during school tests. |
Where does this idiom come from?
In Italian culture, geese are thought to be stupid. Geese are always quacking, they are clumsy and distracted animals. Calling someone a goose in Italian is therefore very offensive.
There’s also an insulting idiom, oca giuliva (“merry goose”), which describes a superficial, stupid, and loud type of woman. That’s not a nice thing to say! This is why “to go in goose” is used to describe a situation where one is distracted and confused.
Related lessons
- andare (to go)
- oca (goose)
- in (preposition)
- prepositions
- irregular verbs
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