What does “Fare il passo più lungo della gamba” mean?
Fare il passo più lungo della gamba
Word for word
To take a step longer than your leg
What it really means
To take on more than you can handle, to spend or promise beyond your means. The classic warning against ambition with nothing under it.
How we say it in English
To bite off more than you can chew
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Create a free accountOther Italian idioms
Buttare i soldi dalla finestra
To throw money down the drain
Fare i salti mortali
To bend over backwards
Il gioco non vale la candela
The game isn't worth the candle — English has the very same idiom, borrowed from French
Lavorare come un mulo
To work like a dog — or to work your fingers to the bone
Andare in fumo
To go up in smoke — the same image, word for word
In bocca al lupo
Break a leg — and, like "break a leg", you never answer with "thank you"