Tomaten auf den Augen haben
Meaning: To be oblivious to what's right in front of you.
Language: German
Literally: To have tomatoes on one's eyes
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: No single theory is confirmed, and three genuinely different explanations compete. One ties the phrase, documented in use since around 1920, to the swollen, reddened eyelids of someone who looks half-asleep or hasn't fully woken up — red and puffy enough to resemble tomatoes. A second, more elaborate theory reaches for medieval Spain, where the tomato was long regarded as a "fruit of sin," and "tomates en los ojos" is claimed to have been an actual public punishment for traitors, thieves, or adulterers, forced to wear tomatoes bound over their eyes for weeks or months as a mark of disgrace — though this specific historical claim isn't well documented. A third, considerably more mundane theory points to early traffic police: when automatic signals were still new and unfamiliar, an officer stationed at an intersection might shout at a driver who failed to move on green, "Sie haben wohl Tomaten auf den Augen!" — you must have tomatoes on your eyes.
Equivalents in other languages
- Italian: Avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto — literally: To have eyes lined with ham
More idioms — Food & Drink
- Um den heißen Brei herumreden — To beat around the bush.
- Seinen Senf dazugeben — To give an unsolicited opinion.
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- Tener mala leche — To be in a foul mood or have bad intentions.
- Ser pan comido — To be extremely easy.
More German idioms
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From our untranslatable words
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