Impariamo alcuni modi di dire relativi ai colori. Tra parentesi la traduzione letterale del modo dire e in corsivo la traduzione che si utilizza in italiano
Red
- a red herring (un’aringa rossa) – una pista falsa / un depistaggio
The detective found a lot of documents on the crime scene but they all turned out to be red herrings.
- to catch someone red-handed (catturare qualcuno con le mani rosse) – prendere qualcuno con le mani nel sacco
Timmy was caught red-handed stealing cakes from his grandma’s cupboard.
- to paint the town red (dipingere la città di rosso) – fare baldoria
The weekend, at last! We’re finally going to paint the town red!
Blue
- out of the blue (fuori dal blu) – di punto in bianco, inaspettatamente
Jimmy called me on the phone out of the blue yesterday.
The teacher was very angry with us and decided to give us a test out of the blue.
- once in a blue moon (una volta ogni luna blu) – una volta ogni morte di Papa
I wash my car once in a blue moon.
She visits us only once in a blue moon. We wish we could see her more.
Green
- green with envy (verde d’invidia) – verde d’invidia
Barbara was green with envy when she found out that her sister had a new boyfriend.
- to give the green light (dare la luce verde) – dare il via libera
Our project has been given the green light. We can finally start working on our survey.
- to have a green thumb (avere un pollice verde) – avere il pollice verde, avere talento per il giardinaggio
Josh’s garden is filled with lush vegetation. He really has a green thumb!
Black
- pitch black (nero assoluto) – buio pesto
We had a power cut last night and since we live in the middle of the woods with no-one around us, everything was pitch black.
- the pot calling the kettle black (la pentola che dice al bollitore che è nero) – il merlo che dice al corvo che è nero / senti chi parla!
Tommy said his deskmate was cheating in the exam but he had all the answers written on his wrist. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Adesso prova ad esercitarti con questi nuovi modi di dire: