wear out one's welcome

[wild_rose]

Hello!
I'm trying to translate the song "Shine on you crazy diamond", and I'm a bit puzzled by the sentence:
"You wore out your welcome in random precision"; it's commonly translated literally as:
"Hai consumato il tuo benvenuto con precisione casuale" but this doesn't make much sense to me...
I was wondering if "wearing out a welcome" can be an idiomatic expression; or shall I just take it as it is, as we often have to do with poetry, without analysing too much?
Thanks!!

 

[Murphy]

"To wear out your welcome" is an idiom. Have a look here: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wear+out+welcome

I've heard my mother-in-law use an expression something like "l'ospite comincia a puzzare", but I don't know how common it is.....

 

[rrose17]

To wear out your welcome is indeed an idomatic expression, meaning you've used up all the good feelings that were extended to you when you first arrived.

@murphy I was thinking of the expression "house guests are like fish; after three days they go bad." (Not something I adhere to but I've heard this)

 

[Teerex51]

"To wear out your welcome" is an idiom. Have a look here: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wear+out+welcome

I've heard my mother-in-law use an expression something like "l'ospite comincia a puzzare", but I don't know how common it is.....

It's quite common: "l'ospite è come il pesce, dopo tre giorni puzza" (there may be several variations on the same theme).

To translate that idiom in (bad) Italian: hai esaurito il tuo benvenuto.

 

[Murphy]

@murphy I was thinking of the expression "house guests are like fish; after three days they go bad." (Not something I adhere to but I've heard this)

It's quite common: "l'ospite è come il pesce, dopo tre giorni puzza" (there may be several variations on the same theme).

I personally have never heard it in English but the fish thing seems to be quite a universal concept, then.

 

[wild_rose]

Thanks a lot! This makes it clearer!