beat around the bush

WOTD – 22 October 2007    

English

Alternative forms

• beat about the bush

Verb

beat around the bush (third-person singular simple present beats around the bush, present participle beating around the bush, simple past and past participle beaten around the bush)

1. (idiomatic) To treat a topic, but omit its main points, often intentionally.
2. (idiomatic) To delay or avoid talking about something difficult or unpleasant.

   Please stop beating around the bush and tell me what the problem is!

Synonyms

• pussyfoot
• prevaricate
• waffle

Antonyms

• cut to the chase
• get on with it
• get to the point

Translations

to treat a topic but omit its main points

• Armenian: ջուր ծեծել (hy) (ǰur çeçel), յուղ վառել (hy) (yuġ vaṙel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: trad. 拐彎抹角, simpl. 拐弯抹角 (pinyin: guǎiwānmòjiǎo), trad. 旁敲側擊, simpl. 旁敲侧击 (pinyin: pángqiāocèjī)

• Dutch: rond de pot draaien (nl) ("circle around the pot"), om de hete brei dansen (nl)
• Finnish: kierrellä (fi), jaaritella (fi), ‎puhua ummet ja lammet
• French: tourner autour du pot (fr) ("circle around the pot")
• German: um den heißen Brei reden (de) ("talk around the pot")
• Hungarian: kerülgeti, mint macska a forró kását (hu), köntörfalaz (hu), mellébeszél (hu)
• Norwegian: gå som katten rundt den varme grøten (no) (circle like a cat around the warm porridge)

• Portuguese: fazer rodeios (pt), usar de rodeios (pt) ("to use roundabout conversations")
• Russian: ходить вокруг да около (ru) (xodít' vokrúg da ókolo) (walk round and about), тянуть резину (ru) (tjanút' rjezínu) (pull rubber), переливать из пустого в порожнее (ru) (perelivát' iz pustóvo v poróžneje) (empty one empty container into another empty container)
• Serbo-Croatian: okolišati (sh), obilaziti kao mačak oko vruće kaše (sh)
• Spanish: andarse con rodeos (es), andar con ambages (es)
• Tagalog: pasikut-sikot (tl) ("roundabout")

to delay or avoid talking about something difficult or unpleasant

• Armenian: ջուր ծեծել (hy) (ǰur çeçel), յուղ վառել (hy) (yuġ vaṙel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: trad. 拐彎抹角, simpl. 拐弯抹角 (pinyin: guǎiwānmòjiǎo), trad. 旁敲側擊, simpl. 旁敲侧击 (pinyin: pángqiāocèjī)

• Dutch: rond de pot draaien (nl) ("circle around the pot"), om de hete brei dansen (nl)
• Finnish: kiertää kuin kissa kuumaa puuroa (fi), kierrellä (fi)
• French: tourner autour du pot (fr) ("circle around the pot")
• German: um den heißen Brei reden (de) ("talk around the pot")
• Icelandic: tala í kringum (is), fara í kringum eins og köttur í kringum heitan graut (is)
• Italian: menare il can per l'aia (it)

• Norwegian: gå som katten rundt den varme grøten (no) (circle like a cat around the warm porridge)
• Polish: owijać w bawełnę (pl) ("wrap in cotton")
• Portuguese: enrolar (pt), embromar (pt)
• Russian: ходить вокруг да около (ru) (xodít' vokrúg da ókolo) (walk round and about), тянуть рязину (ru) (tjanút' rjazínu) (pull rubber), переливать из пустого в порожнее (ru) (perelivát' iz pustóvo v poróžneje) (empty one empty container into another empty container)
• Spanish: irse por los cerros de Úbeda (es)
• Swedish: gå som katten kring het gröt (sv)
• Tagalog: pasikut-sikot (tl) ("roundabout")
• Vietnamese: vòng vo tam quốc (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Japanese: 要点に触れないでいりなさい (ja) (ようてんにふれないでいりなさい, yōten ni furenai deirinasai)

• Korean: 변죽을 울리십시요 (ko) (byeonjugeul ullisipsiyo)
• Spanish: andarse por las ramas (es), darle vueltas al asunto (es)

See also

• circumlocution
• long-winded