Italians have many ways of addressing people who don't like spending money. you may be called Spilorccio, mean, pullor Tirchio. But if they want to sound more poetic, they use idiomatic expressions short arms.
short arms
short arms
short arms Literally means “short arms” and contrary to what you might think, it has nothing to do with not being able to reach your wallet due to short limbs!
according to Florence Todayan expression that harkens back to a time in Florence when cloth sellers used this unit to measure cloth force (through arm). In order to make a profit, some sellers will use the arms of younger apprentices who are shorter than their own. This practice often caused disputes between buyers and sellers, leading to the establishment of a common measure known as ” florence armthe length is exactly 58.32 cm.
Your arms have always been short!
You have always been stingy!
There are actually two variations of this expression: short arms (“short arms”) and short arms (“Short arms” but use standard arm – arms– instead of small small arms – small arms).
Luca's arms are short. He never pays for drinks when we go out.
Luca is very stingy. He never pays for drinks when we go out.
A less commonly used idiomatic alternative is Narrow sleeves (literally “tightening the sleeves”) or Narrow sleeves (“tights”). It is the opposite of the more common expression wide sleeves (“wide sleeves”) is used to describe people who are generous and tolerant.
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.
