Avere le mani in pasta
Meaning: To be deeply involved in something.
Language: Italian
Literally: To have your hands in the dough
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: From the kitchen, where hands buried in the pasta dough are right in the thick of the work — for better or worse.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- お茶を濁す (ocha o nigosu) — To dodge a question with a vague, evasive answer.
- Encher linguiça — To pad something out with filler to take up space or time.
- Met de neus in de boter vallen — To arrive at exactly the right, lucky moment.
- 미역국을 먹다 (Miyeokgugeul meokda) — To fail an exam.
- Lägga rabarber på något — To claim or grab something for yourself.
- Nu har du satt din sista potatis — You've done your last misdeed; you're finished.
More Italian idioms
- Stare con le mani in mano — To stand around doing nothing while others work.
- Non ci piove — There's no doubt about it whatsoever.
- Non avere peli sulla lingua — To speak bluntly and hold nothing back.
- Liscio come l'olio — To go off without a hitch.
- Fare il portoghese — To sneak in without paying.
- Avere le mani bucate — To be a spendthrift.
From our proverbs
- Anger is short-lived in a good man. — A good person's anger passes quickly and leaves no lasting grudge.
- Keep from the anger of a great man. — Avoid provoking the powerful, whose wrath can do you real harm.
- He that is angry without a cause must be pleased without amends. — Anger without real cause deserves no apology to soothe it.