AlbanianI rri gjel dikujt
Meaning: To strut arrogantly before someone and refuse to back down or bow one's head to them.
Literally: He stands like a rooster to someone
Example: “Pas fitores, ai i rri gjel gjithë skuadrës.” — Since the win, he's had a big head in front of the whole team.
English equivalent: To have a big head
Equivalents in other languages
French: Avoir la grosse tête Literally: To have a big head- French: Avoir le melon Literally: To have the melon
Estonian: Nina püsti käima Literally: To walk with your nose up
Swedish: styv i korken Literally: Stiff in the cork
English: too big for one's britches- French: Se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter Literally: To think oneself born from Jupiter's thigh
- French: Se croire le premier moutardier du pape Literally: To think oneself the pope's chief mustard-maker
- English: have a big head
Origin: Recorded in the standard Albanian dictionary under gjel, "rooster," among a cluster of rooster idioms, and built on a sight familiar to anyone who has kept poultry: a rooster squaring up to a rival, chest thrown out, head high, refusing to give ground. To stand like a rooster to someone is to take that posture toward a person — puffed up, defiant, unwilling to lower one's head before them. The same dictionary entry records neighbors in the family, among them si gjeli pa kokë, "like a headless rooster," for someone dazed and disoriented.
More Albanian idioms
- E ka gjuhën të gjatë He gossips and speaks too freely.
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