“Bail someone out”in other languages
Rescue someone from trouble, often at your own cost.
English
Italian
Spanish
Same idea, different pictures
English mixes two pictures: paying bail to get someone out of jail, and bailing water out of a sinking boat.
Italian and Spanish pull the chestnuts out of the fire, cavare le castagne dal fuoco, sacar las castañas del fuego. It comes from the fable of the monkey and the cat: the monkey talks the cat into fishing roasting chestnuts out of the coals, and the cat burns its paws. Whoever pulls the chestnuts out does the risky part for someone else.
More sayings in other languages
- Bang one's head against a brick wall
- Bark up the wrong tree
- Be bone idle
- Be in the know
- Be scared stiff
- Be taken for a ride
- Beat around the bush
- Bend over backwards
- Bite the bullet