Englishstick one's nose in
Meaning: To try to find out about someone else's private business.
Example: “My mother-in-law always sticks her nose in our business.”
Equivalents in other languages
French: Ramener sa fraise Literally: To bring back your strawberry
Origin: The nose earns this role by geometry as much as by function: it protrudes further than any other part of the face, arrives somewhere fractionally before the rest of a person does, and is the organ of investigation in animals whose investigating is unwelcome. English has built a whole vocabulary of intrusion on it — nosy, nose around, poke one's nose in, and the corresponding instruction to keep it out. Worth noting is that the same body part supports an entirely complimentary idiom in a nose for something, where the nose detects what others cannot; the difference is whose business is being investigated. Applied to one's own affairs the nose is perceptive, and applied to someone else's it is impertinent.
More English idioms
- turn a deaf ear To ignore someone.
- turn the other cheek Not to retaliate; not to pay back bad behavior with more bad behavior.
- turn up one's nose at something or someone To scorn, snub, or reject something.
- under someone's thumb Under someone's control.
- with bated breath Hardly breathing at all because of fear, excitement, or other strong emotion.
- when hell freezes over Never.
Explore another collection: Untranslatable Words
Words that capture a feeling or idea English needs a whole sentence for.
- Mono no aware A bittersweet awareness of impermanence — the gentle sadness and appreciation that arise…
- Ikigai The thing that makes you want to get out of bed — the intersection of what you love, what…
- Ma The meaningful negative space between things — a deliberate pause in music, an empty room…
Keep exploring