We all know how important it is to seize an opportunity when it presents itself, and this is exactly what today's Italian idiom encapsulates.
catch the ball
Seize the opportunity/moment
(literally “catch the bouncing ball”)
Imagine you are playing in a basketball game and the ball suddenly bounces in your direction. If you fail to catch it as it crosses your path, there's a good chance it will fall into the hands of another player on your team, or worse, into the hands of an opponent. This scene perfectly embodies the essence of this idiom: When an opportunity presents itself, if you don’t seize it, it will quickly slip away.
Yesterday I met my neighbor and I took the opportunity to borrow his lawnmower.
Yesterday I met my neighbor and I took the opportunity to ask him if he could lend me his lawnmower.
The essence of this quote applies to a variety of scenarios, from perfectly capturing a frightened animal on camera to seizing a career opportunity that unexpectedly presents itself.
Note that the verbs can be swapped take (Rob / take / get) and seize (arrive catch / catch / collect).
I took the opportunity to ask him to drive me home.
I jumped at the chance and asked him to drive me home.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honors in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, fluent in English and Italian, as well as varying degrees of fluency in Japanese, Welsh and French. Originally from Toronto, Heather has lived in several countries, notably Italy for six years. Her main research areas are language acquisition, education and bilingual teaching.
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