stare in piedi

Italian

Etymology

Literally, “to stay afoot”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsta.re im ˈpjɛ.di/

• Audio

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• Hyphenation: stà‧re‧in‧piè‧di

Verb

stàre in piedi (first-person singular present (with syntactic gemination after the verb) stò in piedi, first-person singular past historic stétti in piedi or (traditional) stètti in piedi, past participle stàto in piedi, first-person singular future starò in piedi, first-person singular subjunctive stìa in piedi, first-person singular imperfect subjunctive stéssi in piedi, second-person singular imperative stài in piedi or stà' in piedi, auxiliary èssere)

1. to stand; to be standing
2. (figurative) to be well-founded, coherent, or consistent; to hold water (of an argument, reasoning, etc.)
   • 1990, Ernest Hemingway, translated by Ettore Capriolo, Fiesta [The Sun Also Rises], Mondadori:

     Io diffido delle persone semplici e schiette, soprattutto quando le loro storie stanno in piedi, e avevo sempre sospettato che Robert Cohn non fosse mai stato campione di pugilato, categoria pesi medi, e che il viso glielo avesse calpestato un cavallo, o che sua madre si fosse spaventata o avesse avuto un incubo, o che lui stesso avesse sbattuto contro qualcosa quando era piccolo, ma alla fine scovai uno che chiese conferma di questa storia a Spider Kelly.

     I mistrust all frank and simple people, especially when their stories hold together, and I always had a suspicion that perhaps Robert Cohn had never been middleweight boxing champion, and that perhaps a horse had stepped on his face, or that maybe his mother had been frightened or seen something, or that he had, maybe, bumped into something as a young child, but I finally had somebody verify the story from Spider Kelly.

     (literally, “I mistrust all simple and frank people, above all when their stories hold water, and I had always suspected that Robert Cohn had never been boxing champion, middleweight class, and that a horse had trampled his face, or that his mother had been frightened or had a nightmare, or that he himself had bumped into something when he was little, but in the end I found someone who asked Spider Kelly to confirm this story.”)

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