The Italian idiom far venire il latte alle ginocchia literally means “to make milk come to the knees.” Figuratively, it means “to be really boring.” It’s been suggested that the phrase refers to the tedious process of sitting and milking a cow, as the milk bucket slowly fills up. But no one knows for sure. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Makes Milk Come up to the Knees”
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In Italian, if you’re describing something really boring, you can use a phrase that translates as, “It makes milk come to my knees.”
How weird is that? What does that mean? Well, that’s a good question, and nobody’s completely sure, but it may have to do with the idea of somebody’s really boring, they’re going on and on, and it’s as if you’re sitting there beside a cow with a bucket, and you’re milking the cow, and you’re waiting for the milk to come up to your knees, and it’s taking a long, long time.
Oh, I see.
Yeah.
It’s parvenire il latte alle ginocchia.
Ginocchia.
Oh, that’s nice.
I like that word.
That means knees, I guess.
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