“A bitter pill to swallow”in other languages
An unpleasant truth or outcome you have to accept.
English
Dutch
French
Spanish
EnglishDutchFrenchSpanishSame idea, different pictures
English and Dutch take medicine: before modern drugs, most remedies really were bitter. Spanish keeps the swallowing and drops the pill: un mal trago, a bad gulp.
French swallows poires d'angoisse, pears of anguish. It was the name of a harsh, bitter wild pear, and the pun on angoisse did the rest.
More sayings in other languages
- Blow a gale
- Blow off steam
- Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth
- Born yesterday
- Borrow trouble
- Make a hash of something
- Bow out
- Breathe down someone's neck
- Take the bull by the horns