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I have heard the following sentence in an Italian TV series:

Sono 'sti cazzo de Adami che hanno il minimo alto.

The speaker is a gangster and he is talking about one of his men, which was beaten up by a guy from the rival Adami family the night before. What does "avere il minimo alto" mean? "to have a short fuse", "to get angry easily"?

Charo
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Alan Evangelista
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1 Answers1

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Yes, it is a metaphor that suggests they can easily get angry. The expression is generally used for motorcycles whose “minimo” engine level is the level at which the engine can run when it is idle.

(Wikipedia)

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    It's used not only for motorcycles, but also for cars (and more generally for anything with an engine). In fact I'd say it's more common for cars, but that probably depends from your personal experiences :) – Denis Nardin Oct 05 '19 at 05:28
  • Sì, io associo il minimo del motore più facilmente ad una moto che ad un’auto, forse perché nelle auto tende ad essere più stabile mentre nelle moto e specialmente nei motorini deve essere regolato più spesso. –  Oct 05 '19 at 05:45
  • Il -1 è per via del discorso moto/macchina? –  Oct 05 '19 at 07:27
  • Io ho dato un upvote, non ho idea di perché qualcuno voterebbe -1 – Denis Nardin Oct 05 '19 at 07:29
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    @Gio: Can you please add the link to the source? – Charo Oct 05 '19 at 07:56
  • Non ho capito bene il senso della lunga citazione in cui non si parla di lingua italiana e quindi non è mai menzionata la parola “minimo”, tanto meno in senso figurato. – DaG Oct 05 '19 at 08:29
  • @Charo - it is from Wikipedia. Unlikely I can’t add the source. I am using the app on the phone. Sorry. But what’s the problem? Should the answer be in Italian? –  Oct 05 '19 at 11:03
  • @Gio: No, that's not a problem. It's that I can't find the source of the quotation. – Charo Oct 05 '19 at 11:18