# Avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto



## ElaineG

Ho trovato questa frase piacevole nel libro che leggo ora:

"_Dovevi avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto, _se non riuscivi a vedere come si cercavano sempre."

Capisco bene il significato della frase, ma vorrei sapere se "avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto" è un modo di dire molto comune o meno. (La frase mi piace ma non voglio suonare strana quando la uso).


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## Alfry

Si dice abbastanza spesso, non suoneresti affatto strana, imho


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## ElaineG

Grazie, *Alfry*. La frase mi piace da morire: You must have your eyes wrapped in ham, if you don't see that.... Troppo figo.

In inglese, diciamo: "Have your head in the sand" (come uno struzzo) o "have your head up your a** [very rude]


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## Alfry

You are welcome.

I like "You must have your eyes wrapped in ham".

Would an English speaking person look at you as if you had spouted a second head with an eye in the middle of its forehead if you said that out loud to anyone meaning "devi avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto"?


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## ElaineG

> Would an English speaking person look at you as if you had spouted a second head with an eye in the middle of its forehead if you said that out loud to anyone meaning "devi avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto"?


 
Yes!!!


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## Alfry

But, in the end, they would get what you are trying to say, wouldn't they?


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## ElaineG

I think they would get so hung up on the ham part that they would _forget_ what you were trying to say and just want to ask you why in God's name you were talking about ham!


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## Alfry

ok.... 
I was just curious.
Grazie Elaine


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## combustion

Esiste anche l'espressione "avere il prosciutto nelle orecchie" piu' o meno con lo stesso significato... solo che ora il prosciutto va a occludere l'udito!
Mah... e dire che il prosciutto sta cosi' bene nella piadina !!!
Ciao a tutti, 
comb...


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## lsp

ElaineG said:
			
		

> Yes!!!


Ya think? I'm not so sure... creative expression is all the rage, _cioè _it's quite trendy to come up with your own _modi di dire_ from my experience. It's one of the things that makes English so lively. If I said to any of my pals "You must have your eyes wrapped in ham," it could absolutely catch on, and then it'd be a few days before everyone was saying it. I'll try it, and report back...


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## carrickp

lsp said:
			
		

> Ya think? I'm not so sure... creative expression is all the rage, _cioè _it's quite trendy to come up with your own _modi di dire_ from my experience. It's one of the things that makes English so lively. If I said to any of my pals "You must have your eyes wrapped in ham," it could absolutely catch on, and then it'd be a few days before everyone was saying it. I'll try it, and report back...


It will be a crudo experiment, but worth the attempt.


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## lsp

carrickp said:
			
		

> It will be a crudo experiment, but worth the attempt.


_   Ouch   _


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## Ivan68

Another common expression is "hai le fette di patate sugli occhi?" at least to my hometown


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## carrickp

Ivan68 said:
			
		

> Another common expression is "hai le fette di patate sugli occhi?" at least to my hometown


This seems a scandalous waste of perfectly good ham and potatoes. In the U.S. we use sand, which is otherwise useless, when we need to stick our heads in something.


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## ElaineG

lsp said:
			
		

> Ya think? I'm not so sure... creative expression is all the rage, _cioè _it's quite trendy to come up with your own _modi di dire_ from my experience. It's one of the things that makes English so lively. If I said to any of my pals "You must have your eyes wrapped in ham," it could absolutely catch on, and then it'd be a few days before everyone was saying it. I'll try it, and report back...


 
Well, if you start and I start and Carrick starts -- it's practically viral marketing.  Let's see how long it is before it shows up in Urban Dictionary.com


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## disegno

Mi piace questa frase, va bene con tutte le altre frase che riferiscono "pane" in Italiano. (buono come il pane, per esempio) Possiamo fare un bel panino!  

(It goes "hand in hand" with all the other phrases that make reference to bread in Italian. Or is that "hand in ham" or "ham in ham" or "ham in ear"....hmmmmm )


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## Scopa Nuova

Tutto il questo suona abbastanza gigionesco a me!!! Ma educativo. Ha! ha!


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## moodywop

ElaineG said:
			
		

> In inglese, diciamo: "Have your head in the sand" (come uno struzzo)


 
Doesn't "have your head in the sand" suggest you're trying to avoid facing an unpalatable truth? Actually we say "fare lo struzzo"(ostrich), which is exactly the same.

I think that the Italian phrase suggests that someone is naive/inexperienced/gullible. It is often used to describe, for instance, a girl(or a boy) who is head over heels in love with a guy and doesn't see his flaws, which are evident to everyone else. In this case she's not _in denial - _she simply doesn't *see *his flaws, which are filtered out by the thick layers of _prosciutto _


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## Ivan68

We also say "Sei un Salame" "You're silly"


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## Ivan68

Gambe di ricotta


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## Scopa Nuova

Not used any more but there used to be an expression for someone who did dumb things "*Che zuccone*"; What a pumpkin head.

There also used to be an American expression "*What a meatball*" or "*Hey meatball*" for someone doing dumb things.

We humans, regardless of nationality, are good at coming up with novel ways to insult each other!

Scopa Nuova


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## stanfal

Oltre al prosciutto, si usa anche il salame: "Deve avere due fette di salame sugli occhi per non accorgersi!!" 
S.


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## Raphillon

Mi state facendo venir fame!

Salami che non siete altro!  



(English speakers may not understand the Joke. To call one "Salame" outright is another common Idiom to say "silly").


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## ElaineG

moodywop said:
			
		

> Doesn't "have your head in the sand" suggest you're trying to avoid facing an unpalatable truth? Actually we say "fare lo struzzo"(ostrich), which is exactly the same.
> 
> I think that the Italian phrase suggests that someone is naive/inexperienced/gullible. It is often used to describe, for instance, a girl(or a boy) who is head over heels in love with a guy and doesn't see his flaws, which are evident to everyone else. In this case she's not _in denial - _she simply doesn't *see *his flaws, which are filtered out by the thick layers of _prosciutto _


 
Well, actually, in my book (where I found the prosciutto phrase), it was exactly a "head in the sand" situation -- two people are in love, and a third (who loves one of them) refuses to see what is going on.  That's head in the sand, to me!


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## Silvia

stanfal said:
			
		

> Oltre al prosciutto, si usa anche il salame: "Deve avere due fette di salame sugli occhi per non accorgersi!!"
> S.


Questa è in assoluto più diffusa di quella del prosciutto:
avere le fette di salame sugli occhi

Sottigliezza: se hai le fette di salame sugli occhi, sei un ingenuo, non vedi le cose che stanno davanti a te, che ad altri sono palesi, ma non a te. Se uno è innamorato, può non vedere determinati aspetti negativi dell'altra persona. Nascondere la testa nella sabbia (come gli struzzi, espressione usata anche in italiano), invece, sottintende una certa dose di disillusione, uno fa finta di non vedere, preferisce non sapere per non affrontare la realtà, che risulterebbe amara.

Gettare sabbia negli occhi invece è tutt'altro modo di dire, ma non voglio andare fuori tema.


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## lsp

disegno said:
			
		

> Mi piace questa frase, va bene con tutte le altre frase che riferiscono "pane" in Italiano. (buono come il pane, per esempio) Possiamo fare un bel panino!
> 
> (It goes "hand in hand" with all the other phrases that make reference to bread in Italian. Or is that "hand in ham" or "ham in ham" or "ham in ear"....hmmmmm )


On bread: I heard that our "selling like hotcakes" is Italian's selling like _panini_!


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## pescara

What does gigionesco mean?


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## lsp

pescara said:
			
		

> What does gigionesco mean?


histrionic, *ham*my!!


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## pescara

Grazie Isp.


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## carrickp

moodywop said:
			
		

> I think that the Italian phrase suggests that someone is naive/inexperienced/gullible. It is often used to describe, for instance, a girl(or a boy) who is head over heels in love with a guy and doesn't see his flaws, which are evident to everyone else. In this case she's not _in denial - _she simply doesn't *see *his flaws, which are filtered out by the thick layers of _prosciutto _


Interesting -- we have a related expression "see the world through rose-colored glasses," which means to be a naive optimist. I guess if the prosciutto were sliced thinly enough the visual effect would be about the same.


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## Scopa Nuova

pescara said:
			
		

> What does gigionesco mean?


 

As Isp already indicated, my intended meaning of *gigionesco* was _*hammy*_, being _hammy_ myself in saying it!

Scopa Nuova


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