tener un rabo de paja
Meaning: To feel guilty or anxious about something, fearing exposure of a personal fault or secret.
Language: Spanish
Literally: to have a straw tail
Category: Animals
Origin: Descends from a fuller, older proverb: "quien tiene rabo de paja, no se debe acercar al fuego" — whoever has a tail made of straw shouldn't get close to the fire, since straw catches alight far more easily and dangerously than any other material a tail might be made of. A version of the saying is documented in Spain by around 1800, phrased as a warning that only someone without a hidden weakness could safely stay calm near danger. "Rabo" and "cola" have long been near-synonyms in Spanish for tail, with "rabo" the more colloquial, popular term and "cola" its more formal equivalent, and both versions of the saying survive today, describing someone whose own guilty conscience makes them anxious the moment a related topic comes dangerously close.
Equivalents in other languages
- Italian: avere la coda di paglia — literally: to have a straw tail
- Czech: Mít máslo na hlavě — literally: To have butter on your head
More idioms — Animals
- essere un osso duro — Be a difficult, stubborn person who is challenging to deal with or influence.
- 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.
More Spanish idioms
- Hablar por los codos — To talk nonstop.
- Costar un ojo de la cara — To be outrageously expensive.
- No hay tu tía — There's no way around it; nothing can be done.
- Estar de Rodríguez — To be a husband left working in town while the family is on holiday.
- Quedarse de piedra — To be stunned speechless.
- Ser uña y carne — To be inseparable; the closest of friends.
From our tongue twisters
- Como poco coco como, poco coco compro. — A bouncy 'co' drill — the word order and meaning flip with each repetition.
- Pepe Pecas pica papas con un pico. ¿Con qué pico pica papas Pepe Pecas? — A bouncy 'p' cluster that accelerates with the question at the end.
- El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo porque Ramón Ramírez se lo ha robado. — A rolled-'r' workout — every word demands the vibrating trill.