talk the hind legs off a donkey
Meaning: To talk endlessly.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “My uncle could talk the hind legs off a donkey.”
Category: Animals
Origin: A comic exaggeration of talk so relentless it would wear the legs off an animal. Earlier versions used a horse; the donkey form is found from the 19th century, mainly in Britain.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Un moulin à paroles — literally: A word mill
More idioms — Animals
- jump through hoops — To go through many difficult or pointless steps to get something.
- slow and steady wins the race — Patience and persistence succeed better than haste.
- like a duck to water — Naturally and easily, as if born to it.
- kill the goose that lays the golden eggs — To destroy a source of profit out of greed.
- with one's tail between one's legs — Humiliated and defeated.
- a workhorse — A person or machine that does a large amount of hard, reliable work.
More English idioms
- money makes the world go round — Money is what drives everything.
- cut the Gordian knot — To solve a complicated problem with a bold, simple action.
- pick a fight — To deliberately start an argument or fight.
- in someone's good books — In favor with someone.
- an eye for an eye — Punishment should match the injury; revenge in kind.
- scream blue murder — To protest very loudly.
From our tongue twisters
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? — A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. — Believed by Guinness to be among the hardest in English — 'six/sick/sheikh/sheep' blur in…
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. — A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.