As I do most mornings, I read the news on various websites to see if the world has gone completely to the dogs linguistically and otherwise. Sadly, I’m often proven right.
This morning Marco Imarisio of Corriere della Sera decided that the Russian foreign minister Lavrov must have been heard using the American expression hold your horses -presumably in its non-existing Russian version – while advising his president to adopt a wait-and-see strategy.
Clearly on a roll, Mr. Imarisio thought that this folksy idiom could also be translated literally into Italian – Tieni a bada i cavalli – for the benefit of his Italian readers.
A simple Frena! would have sufficed.
Hold your hosses, Mr. Putin!