/non ˈsono ˈkavoli ˈmjɛi/ lit. ‘they’re not my cabbages’
Italian idiom, colloquial. This isn’t my problem, so I’m not getting involved.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Italian speaker.
How do people use Non sono cavoli miei
?
Colloquial, a bit cheeky, fine with friends and family but not at a job interview. Swap the possessive to point at whoever owns the problem: “sono cavoli tuoi” (your problem), “saranno cavoli suoi” (that’ll be his problem). “Fatti i cavoli tuoi” means “mind your own business”.
Also said sono cavoli tuoi, fatti i cavoli tuoi
Non sono cavoli miei
in real sentences
-
Saranno ben cavoli suoi!
That’ll be his problem!
Tatoeba, sentence by Guybrush88, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Non sono cavoli miei
come from?
The cabbage is a euphemism. The Treccani dictionary explains that many popular expressions with cavolo replaced a vulgar word, and lists “fatti i cavoli tuoi!” (mind your own business) among them; English Wiktionary has the vulgar original, “cazzi tuoi”, with the same meaning as “not my circus, not my monkeys”. Italian Wiktionary gives affari, fatti and problemi as figurative meanings of cavoli. So the vegetable is an accident of polite substitution, much like French onions in “ce ne sont pas mes oignons”.
Mistakes learners make with Non sono cavoli miei
Using it in polite company without realizing what it stands in for. The cabbages replace a much ruder word (“cazzi”), and everyone hears the original underneath, so it’s mild but not neutral.
Other Italian idioms like Non sono cavoli miei
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?
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