essere un osso duro
Meaning: Be a difficult, stubborn person who is challenging to deal with or influence.
Language: Italian
Literally: to be a hard bone
Category: Animals
Origin: "Osso" traces to Latin os, ossis, bone, and the metaphor is direct and needs little unpacking: a genuinely hard, dense bone resists being broken or worked through, the same stubborn resistance a difficult opponent or an unyielding problem presents to anyone trying to overcome it. The image likely has roots in hunting and butchering traditions, where the hardest bones in an animal carcass were the most unpleasant, effort-intensive obstacles to work through, requiring real persistence rather than a single quick effort — a fitting parallel for a person who won't be worn down or defeated easily.
More idioms — Animals
- медведь на ухо наступил (medved' na ukho nastupil) — To lack musical ability or have poor sense of pitch and rhythm.
- att vara rädd som en hare — To be extremely fearful and jumpy, ready to flee at the slightest danger.
- let the cat out of the bag — to reveal a secret inadvertently.
- go belly up — to fail completely; to go bankrupt.
- bark up the wrong tree — to pursue a wrong course; to blame the wrong person.
- get your ducks in a row — to organize yourself; to prepare systematically.
More Italian idioms
- piangere sul latte versato — Waste time regretting something that cannot be changed or undone.
- Prendere due piccioni con una fava — To achieve two goals with a single effort.
- Avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca — To want to have it both ways.
- Ogni morte di papa — Extremely rarely; once in a blue moon.
- Avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto — To be unable to see what is right in front of you.
- Fare le corna — To ward off bad luck — or to signal that a partner is being unfaithful.
From our untranslatable words
- Meriggiare — To take a quiet midday rest in a cool, shaded spot, escaping the fierce afternoon sun.
- Magari — One word doing the work of 'if only', 'I wish', 'perhaps' and 'you bet' — the tone decide…
- Sprezzatura — The art of making something difficult look wholly effortless, hiding every trace of the w…