/meˈnare il ˈkan per ˈlaja/ lit. ‘lead the dog around the threshing floor’
Italian idiom, familiar. To avoid saying the important thing directly.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Italian speaker.
How do people use Menare il can per l’aia
?
Familiar Italian with an old-fashioned flavor, since menare (to lead) and aia (a farmyard) sound rural today. It’s most often a request to stop: “non menare il can per l’aia” means “get to the point”. The dog always stays the shortened “can”, never “cane”.
Also said menar il can per l’aia
Menare il can per l’aia
in real sentences
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Non menare il can per l’aia.
Don’t beat around the bush.
Tatoeba, sentence by Guybrush88, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Non ho menato il can per l’aia.
I didn’t beat around the bush.
Tatoeba, sentence by Guybrush88, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Menare il can per l’aia
come from?
It’s old. Italian Wikipedia says the Crusca dictionary of 1724 defines it as dragging things out to avoid a conclusion, and quotes Benedetto Varchi’s Ercolano (1565) using it for people who talk in long circles without ever getting anywhere. Why a dog on a threshing floor is not clear: Paolo Minucci noted in 1688 that the aia is far too small a place for a hunting dog, so leading one there gets you nowhere. Other explanations circulate, without sources.
Mistakes learners make with Menare il can per l’aia
Saying “il cane” in full. It’s a fixed phrase with the clipped “can”, and the full word sounds like you’re really walking a dog. Also, menare today often means to hit, so learners sometimes read it as beating the dog: here it means to lead.
Other Italian idioms like Menare il can per l’aia
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?
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