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Glossary entry

Italian term or phrase:

il suo tallone d’Achille

English translation:

his weak spot

Added to glossary by Maria Burnett
Mar 30, 2020 14:53
4 yrs ago
41 viewers *
Italian term

il suo tallone d’Achille

Non-PRO Italian to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature book
che io ero il suo tallone d’Achille per fargli perdere la testa e il controllo sull’attività.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +2 his weak spot
4 +7 Achilles' heel
Change log

Mar 30, 2020 21:43: Rachel Fell changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Barbara Carrara, Lara Barnett, Rachel Fell

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Discussion

Michael Korovkin Mar 30, 2020:
Easily, Phil My son is 12. I've totally dissolved in an amorphous puddle at his feet. Perhaps that's what's wrong with me. Worse, I love every moment of it! So, yes, like that tiny bit of baby Achilles' body, a little heel – healthy and pink and cute but untouched by the waters of Styx – my son may be seen as my fatal flaw. But we don't have to be so melodramatic and morbid. I'm half-way through my tenth book. It's safekeeping is also my Achilles' heel. It was on my laptop only. I've left the laptop on the airport security belt in Madrid and never saw it again... and my backup disk at home got corrupt. That was very traumatic, believe me! (thank god for the iCloud, god bless it!) So, anything people or a rotten set of circumstances can get to us through is our Achilles' heel. It's a myth, Phil! Myths are nothing if not the symbolic representations of our deepest concerns. They are metaphoric by definition. Achilles' heel, Achilles' shield (cf. Auden)... all of it. Perhaps you haven't noticed, Phil, but now I am being your Syren!!! So hold tight to the mast! :)))
philgoddard Mar 30, 2020:
I'm staying open minded here... But how can you describe your son as your Achilles' heel? It means something that's wrong with you, a weakness or fatal flaw :-)
Michael Korovkin Mar 30, 2020:
oh yesss, one can! and how! In Latin, in philosophy in any language, and in many legal argots, it would be simply "vulnus" – a vulnerable point. My own son, for example, is my Achilles' heel. And so he should be! :)))
Isabelle Johnson Mar 30, 2020:
Surely you can Phil metaphorically speaking!!
philgoddard Mar 30, 2020:
You don't say whether you're familiar with this phrase, or what your thoughts are, or what the context is. But this sounds like a malapropism - I don't think you can be someone else's Achilles' heel.

Proposed translations

+2
1 hr
Selected

his weak spot

to match the narrative tone

otherwise his Achilles' heel
Peer comment(s):
agree Shera Lyn Parpia
51 mins
grazie! and thank you:)))
agree Wendy Streitparth
2 hrs
thank you e grazie! :)))
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+7
1 hr

Achilles' heel

Nothing wrong with a literal translation here.
Peer comment(s):
agree Michele Fauble
1 hr
agree Wendy Streitparth : Don't know who was first :-)
2 hrs
agree Charlotte Fleming
2 hrs
agree EleoE
3 hrs
agree writeaway : Same expression in both languages. So why not use it,
6 hrs
agree martini
15 hrs
agree Inter-Tra : in this case is ok, however beware of the usage of this idiom. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Achilles' heel
16 hrs
Something went wrong...
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