Menare il can per l’aia in Italian
| Literal translation | To lead/beat the dog around the barnyard |
| Meaning | To stall for time or buy time instead of dealing with a subject or matter |
| IPA pronunciation | /ˈmɛtteːre ˈnɛːro su ˈbjaŋko/ |
Menare il can per l’aia
To beat around the bush
Where does this come from? In the past, heavy farm animals were used to thresh grain in barnyards. Lighter animals such as dogs and chickens would have taken much longer to thresh the same amount of grain, hence the saying.
For example, you can say…
Non menare il can per l’aia. Dimmi cos’è successo.
Don’t beat around the bush. Tell me what happened.
Non sopporto chi mena il can per l’aia. Mi piace andare dritto al punto.
I can’t stand people who beat around the bush. I like to get straight to the point.
➡️ Related lessons
- Menare (to beat)
- Cane (dog)
- Aia (Barnyard)
- Per (preposition)
- Prepositions
- Definite articles
- All Italian expressions
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