mangiarsi le parole
Italian
Alternative forms
- mangiare le parole
Etymology
Literally, "to eat one's words." Compare French manger ses mots.
Verb
mangiarsi le parole
- (idiomatic) to swallow one's words; to mumble
- Synonym: borbottare
- 2013, chapter 4, in F. Scott Fitzgerald; Ferruccio Russo, transl., Il Grande Gatsby [The Great Gatsby], Edizioni Scientifiche e Artistiche, page 95:
- Aveva accelerato sulla frase «ho studiato a Oxford» - si mangiava le parole o inciampava su di esse - come se già prima gli avessero dato noie.
- He hurried the phrase "educated at Oxford," or swallowed it or choked on it as though it had bothered him before.
- (literally, “He had sped up on the sentence "I studied at Oxford" - he swallowed his words or tripped over them - as if they already in the past had bothered him.”)