IdiomFood & Drink
Czech
CzechMít máslo na hlavě
Meaning: To have a guilty conscience or something to hide.
Literally: To have butter on your head
Example: “Proč se tak červenáš? Máš snad máslo na hlavě?” — Why are you blushing like that? A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
English equivalent: A guilty conscience needs no accuser
Origin: From an old saying shared across Central Europe: someone carrying butter on their head, perhaps stolen, should stay out of the sun, or it will melt and give them away. Dutch has wie boter op zijn hoofd heeft, moet uit de zon blijven, recorded from the 16th century, and German and Austrian forms say the same. Having butter on one's head is having a guilty conscience.
Equivalents in other languages
Spanish: tener un rabo de paja Literally: To have a straw tail
Italian: avere la coda di paglia Literally: To have a straw tail
More Czech idioms
- Je to za vodou To be out of trouble; home free.
- Dělat z komára velblouda To blow something tiny wildly out of proportion.
- Spadnout z višně To be naive and clueless about how things really work.
- Mít kliku To be lucky.
- Házet flintu do žita To give up prematurely.
- Mít všech pět pohromadě To be of sound mind.
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