“Hammer and tongs”in other languages
With great energy and force.
English
French
Spanish
Same idea, different pictures
English goes at it like a blacksmith, with every tool in the forge. French fights d'estoc et de taille, with both ways of using a sword: the thrust with the point and the cut with the edge.
Spanish dale que te pego sounds like a scuffle that won't stop: “hit it, I'm hitting you”. It's said of anything done relentlessly.
More sayings in other languages
- Have a thing for someone
- Have a free hand
- Have a lot on one's plate
- Have a nerve
- Have had it up to here
- Have one's back to the wall
- Have one's head in the clouds
- Hit the nail on the head
- Hold one's tongue