tagliare corto

Italian[edit]

Calque of French couper court. Literally, “to cut short”.

tagliàre corto (first-person singular present tàglio corto, first-person singular past historic tagliài corto, past participle tagliàto corto, auxiliary avére) (intransitive)

to cut to the chase
- 2020 September 30, Anna Lombardi, “Trump-Biden, primo dibattito infuocato: insulti e interruzioni a ripetizione su Covid, Corte Suprema ed economia [Trump-Biden, first heated debate: repeated insults and interruptions on Covid, Supreme Court and economy]”, in la Repubblica‎^[1]:
  "Ho vinto le elezioni e ho diritto di scegliere, non governo tre anni ma quattro", taglia corto Mister President, tesissimo.
  "I won the elections and I have the right to choose, I don't govern for three years, but four," Mister President cuts to the chase, very tense.
to truncate a conversation, speech, etc. prematurely; to cut off; to cut short
- 2012, John Green, translated by Giorgia Grilli, Colpa delle Stelle [The Fault in our Stars], Mondadori, page 50:
  «Già» ho detto, tagliando corto. Mi sono resa conto che ero stata sciocca a prenderlo perfino in considerazione.
  "Yeah," I said, cutting her off. I realized I’d been silly even to consider it.
  (literally, “"Yeah," I said, cutting it short. I realized I had been foolish to even take it into consideration.”)