In idiomatic expressions, Italians often use this word pumpkinmeaning is pumpkin, gourdor squash, compared to the human head and brain. An example of this idiomatic expression is “There’s salt in your pumpkin,” literally means “There is salt in the gourd”.
It is used to describe a person who is smart, wise, and has common sense. It has a similar meaning to the English idiom “to have one’s head on right”.
Add some salt to the pumpkin
wise/smart/have common sense
according to green revolutionthe origin of this expression is very ancient and can be traced back to ancient Rome. Sale (Salt) were vital to food preservation at the time and were so valuable that they were considered a currency. The Romans used hollowed pumpkins as containers to store salt. Therefore, more salt in the pumpkin symbolized wealth, while less salt in the pumpkin meant poverty. nowadays, There’s salt in your pumpkin It simply means that you possess tremendous intellectual “wealth.”
My brother keeps a lot of salt in his head.
My brother has a straight head.
Likewise, you can use the negative equivalent, Put a little salt in the pumpkin (“Lack of salt in the brain”) or Don’t put too much salt in your pumpkin (“Not much salt in the brain”) describes a person who is not very smart or lacks common sense.
He doesn’t have much salt in his head, but we still love him.
He’s not very smart, but we love him anyway.
Here are some other expressions containing the word pumpkin When it means “head” or “brain/mind”.
- Come out of the pumpkin = Lost my mind
- lose pumpkin = Lose your mind
- There is an empty pumpkin = to be a fool/fool (literally “having an empty gourd”)
- break your pumpkin = think about something seriously (Literally means “breaking the gourd”)
- There is a pumpkin filled with straw = become stupid (literally “having a gourd filled with straw”)
