Learn English – Are there similar figurative expressions in English to Japanese proverb, “メッキが剥げる – the gilding peels off” to describe to show one’s true color

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When I’m reading U.S. newspapers reporting Presidential campaign almost every day, and watching consistency and inconsistency of the claims of candidates or nominees in their speeches at rallies and press interviews, I feel like I’m getting to know what really they are like.

Whatever you say, it becomes clear who you really are over the long term and through repeated tests, no matter how you decorate yourself beautifully. When we recognize one’s true character, we call it “メッキが剥げる- the gilding comes off (and shows true color of the ground metal)” in Japanese saying.

I'm curious to know if there is the similar figurative expression to “the (gold) plate comes (peels) off” in English. Is there the one?

Best Answer

It's common to call this showing one's true colors similar to the way you described it in your question. Wiktionary:

Verb
show one's true colors

  1. (idiomatic) To reveal how one really is, as opposed to how one has been portrayed or after having been deceptively and deliberately misleading.

The usual form is colors rather than color, because as Wiktionary goes on to say, the expression is of nautical origin:

The word 'colors' (or 'colours') refers to the flag or ensign which every ship is obliged to fly at sea. It was once a common deception of pirates to 'sail under false colours' and fly a friendly flag in order to get within close range of potential targets (other ships) without exciting suspicion. Only when the pirate ship reached close quarters would it unfurl its 'true colours'.

To be completely clear, a ship's flag is always referred to as its "colors" in the plural, certainly because a flag generally has multiple colors which define it.