# avere il pelo sullo stomaco



## AnnyPan

Hi WR friends, 
I would like to ask you your opinion about how to traslate this tipical Italian idiom. People use it when they are talking about a person that is not scared or even disgusted by a very impressive situation. 

Serve del pelo sullo stomaco per diventare chirurghi. 
Ha dimostrato del pelo sullo stomaco dicendo quel che pensava al suo capo. 
Quella casa è talmente sporca che serve del pelo sullo stomaco per entrarci. 

Actually I am writing a letter and I would like to express the fact that I am grown up and that I am strong enought to afford also diffucult situations  Maybe with different and funnier words!

Thanks a lot

Anny


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## V52

Hy Anny 
I checked on Hazon, they report:
"to be ruthless" and no more figurative expressions as the italian one.
Hope to be helpfull
V52

Sorry, but I read your post again maybe did you mean  "aver peli sulla lingua" , this should be quite different...
V52


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## pescara

Direi:
You have to be tough to be a surgeon.
It takes guts to...
It takes a strong constitution to...

Ciao.


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## Odysseus54

In effetti, anche io sarei sul "to be ruthless" - gli esempi del primo post non mi suonano molto bene, in italiano.

Un chirurgo deve avere uno stomaco forte - se ha il pelo sullo stomaco eviterei di farmi operare da lui.

"Avere il pelo sullo stomaco" non significa "essere forte", "non essere schizzinoso" ecc, ma in genere fregarsene delle regole, delle sensibilita' altrui , di quello che gli anglosassoni chiamano "common decency" ecc ecc.  C'e' sempre un significato negativo - perlomeno c'era.  

Oggi magari , a forza di fratelli e di isole, e' diventato una virtu' teologale.


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## V52

I agree with Odisseus the three examples don't fit with "avere il pelo sullo stomaco", we could discuss about them, but we must stay in the thread. Maybe Anny could give us more details to understand what she really needs . Maybe does she need to say she is a "more experienced"  person, than when she was a child?    
V52


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## Odysseus54

"I have now a thicker skin than I used to as I was a child " - that could work, couldn't it ?


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## Alxmrphi

Odysseus54 said:


> "I have now a thicker skin than I used to as I was a child " - that could work, couldn't it ?


 

".. than I used to as a child.." 
".. than I used to when I was a child.." 
".. than I used to as I was a child.." 

For the doctor example:
* To have the stomach for it. (& it takes guts to become)

For the 'boss' example:
* To have the cuts / nerves of steel

'Ruthless' doesn't work in any example so far.


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## Odysseus54

Alxmrphi said:


> 'Ruthless' doesn't work in any example so far.




It does not, and that's exactly the point - "avere il pelo sullo stomaco" means "to be ruthless", trust me.

The idiom is used improperly in the examples.


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## Alxmrphi

Odysseus54 said:


> It does not, and that's exactly the point - "avere il pelo sullo stomaco" means "to be ruthless", trust me.
> The idiom is used improperly in the examples.


 
Ah, that explains it then 
Could you give us the appropriate Italian idioms for, let's say, the doctor and the boss example?



> Un chirurgo deve avere uno stomaco forte - se ha il pelo sullo stomaco eviterei di farmi operare da lui.



This has just made perfect sense Ody  I totally agree!


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## marcus251274

ciao a tutti,

una persona che ha il "pelo sullo stomaco" in italiano è un'espressione che  può essere in prima analisi parafrasata in questo modo:

"una persona che non prova disgusto per situazioni particolarmente dure o scabrose"
può in certi casi sottendere un'accezione esplicitamente negativa, ma non sempre e solo estensivamente.
Quindi a mio avviso "ruthless" qualche volta è fuorviante perché copre solo una parte del significato del termine (peraltro questa accezione di crudeltà e di durezza non sempre c'è)
per esempio posso benissimo dire che per fare il medico legale devi avere il "pelo sullo stomaco" ovviamente per gli spettacoli raccapriccianti ai quali a volte deve assistere (indica un' insensibilità davvero straordinaria)
oppure "bisogna avere lo stomaco forte"  (che preferisco a "bisogna avere stomaco" che mi sembra troppo un calco di "bisogna avere fegato", che ovviamente ha un'accezione un po' diversa e si concentra più sull'aspetto del "coraggio")

In effetti, giocando un po' e interpretando l'espressione, "avere peli sullo stomaco" -anche letteralmente- significa "avere la propria parete gastrica coperta di peli quindi meno sensibile alle stimolazioni e meno incline ai conati di disgusto". 

Mi rendo peraltro conto che l'espressione in italiano viene però usata molto con entrambe le accezioni traducibili in inglese in molti casi con "stomach" "guts" oppure con  "ruthless"  a seconda dei casi e delle sfumature di significato...
basta cercare sui motori di ricerca a conferma di questo...
Perdonate il mio indugiare  su "l'aspetto italiano della vicenda" ma ovviamente come direbbe "qualcuno" la traduzione è innanzitutto ermeneutica.
buona notte 

M.

ps:
per tradurre ruthless in modo figurato e colorito quasi (ortega y gasset docet) perfetto si potrebbe usare la bellissima espressione napoletana "tiene e pile 'ncoppa 'o core"
ma qui di cuore non di stomaco si tratta....
eh eh eh


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## spero

Una donna con il pelo sullo stomaco.

I know this means someone who won't stop at anything to get what she wants, but is there an adjective in English that would sum all of this up?

Thanks!


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## Necsus

spero said:


> this means someone who won't stop at anything to get what she wants


Hello, spero. Well, that's not exactly the meaning of the expression. From _Dizionario dei modi di dire_:

*avere il pelo sullo stomaco*
Essere completamente privi di scrupoli.
Il detto presuppone che una persona priva di coscienza e moralità sia in grado di subire insulti, rimproveri e accuse senza provarne alcun disagio, come se avesse sullo stomaco uno strato di pelo protettivo che attutisce i colpi ed evita di avvertirne il fastidio.


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## bobes

Maybe '_unscrupulous'_ in English_?_


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## sorry66

To have a thick skin?


Necsus said:


> Il detto presuppone che una persona priva di coscienza e moralità


'To have a thick skin' doesn't mean you don't have a conscience or weak morals, though.


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## Paulfromitaly

Io credo che "to be ruthless and unfeeling" sia la traduzione più vicina.


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## bicontinental

or possibly _callous?_...
bic.


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## anglomania1

Hi there, 
I have another aspect of "pelo sullo stomaco" to ask.
I'm translating an article about the high prices fetched at auction by some Italian wines. The sentence is:
A questo punto la domanda anche un po’ ingenua che si fa l’appassionato di vino *con poco pelo finanziario sullo stomaco* sarebbe: ma li vale? 

What does it mean here? That the wine enthusiast is* not so ruthless* (poco pelo, in this case)? How can I fit the "finanziario" in there? *The money conscious wine enthusiast*, maybe?

Any suggestions?
Thanks, 
Anglo


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## sorry66

a wine enthusiast with little in the way of financial cushioning


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## King Crimson

In my opinion the idiom is used a bit loosely here, in fact the writer doesn't mean that the wine enthusiast should be ruthless but that, to accept those prices, he/she should exhibit a risk-seeking attitude in terms of financial investment. Exactly the opposite of the 'money conscious' investor mentioned by anglo.


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## anglomania1

Hi there and thanks for your suggestions.
It was difficult enough to translate "pelo sullo stomaco" - but this was the opposite because it was "POCO pelo sullo stomaco", just to complicate things.
I just asked my husband and he thinks it means "a wine enthusiast who doesn't know much about finance".
So maybe I could put something like:
At this stage the rather naïve question that the wine enthusiast not very au fait with finance asks is: but is it worth it?  

Boh!
Anglo


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## King Crimson

anglomania1 said:


> Hi there and thanks for your suggestions.
> It was difficult enough to translate "pelo sullo stomaco" - but this was the opposite because it was "POCO pelo sullo stomaco", just to complicate things.
> I just asked my husband and he thinks it means "a wine enthusiast who doesn't know much about finance".
> So maybe I could put something like:
> At this stage the rather naïve question that the wine enthusiast not very au fait with finance asks is: but is it worth it?
> 
> Boh!
> Anglo



And I think that to better capture the nuance of '*poco* pelo sullo stomaco', you might consider adding 'risk-averse', such as ..._the risk-averse wine enthusiast not very au fait with finance_...


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## anglomania1

King Crimson said:


> And I think that to better capture the nuance of '*poco* pelo sullo stomaco', you might consider adding 'risk-averse', such as ..._the risk-averse wine enthusiast not very au fait with finance_...


Very nice!!


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## L'Enrico

I don't understand the reference to finance. To be honest, I don't fully understand the use of the expression in the sentence. It does sound like a misuse.
The intended meaning seems to be _risk-averse_, as KC suggested. I don't see how knowledgeability in finance factors into that.

E.


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## King Crimson

Actually in my post #19, after 'is used a bit loosely', I was going to add 'almost misused' but then I didn't. I think that the relationship with financial knowledge comes from the association between the idiom 'poco pelo (sullo stomaco)' and the qualifier 'finanziario'.
I understand the above as defining someone having little or no financial (and/or wine) expertise and therefore not willing to waste money buying too expensive wines. Conversely, someone with more 'pelo sullo stomaco' could decide to take that risk.


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## rrose17

Maybe something like "...the wine enthiusiast who is not exactly a financial wiz/genius..."
In Canada, I've been told we tend to use a lot of French expressions, more than elsewhere, but I've never seen "au fait" used like anglo did. Is that common in the UK?


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## L'Enrico

King Crimson said:


> I understand the above as defining someone having little or no financial (and/or wine) expertise



At the risk of repeating myself, I don't see how that has anything to do with the meaning of the expression in question, even such a poor use of it as was made in the text.
But OK. If you guys insist.

E.


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## anglomania1

H


rrose17 said:


> Maybe something like "...the wine enthiusiast who is not exactly a financial wiz/genius..."
> In Canada, I've been told we tend to use a lot of French expressions, more than elsewhere, but I've never seen "au fait" used like anglo did. Is that common in the UK?


Ha Ha, that's funny - yes it is used a a bit!
Au fait with

We have quite a few French terms in the UK, maybe more than in Canada!!
I really like your version, though, I might go for that one,
thanks
Anglo

PS, I'm with you L'Enrico, but I have to translate it!! So I have to put it down somehow!


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## rrose17

Where we would say _au courant_, I suppose? Strange, to me, anyway, since "au fait" in French doesn't mean that, but now we're definitely OT!


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## anglomania1

rrose17 said:


> Where we would say _au courant_, I suppose? Strange, to me, anyway, since "au fait" in French doesn't mean that, but now we're definitely OT!


I think the Brits are great a taking phrases and words and using them in a totally wrong context!
Take BIMBO, for example - but definitely OT!!


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## King Crimson

anglomania1 said:


> I think the Brits are great a taking phrases and words and using them in a totally wrong context!
> Take BIMBO, for example - but definitely OT!!



You've just suggested a good entry for our list of 'false friends', anglo


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## Linnets

_Ruthless_ seems to bea good translation. Anyway, this expression doesn't sound very "Italian" to my ears.


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