tagliare corto

Italian

Etymology

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

Verb

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

1. 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.

2. 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.”)