Importar un pimiento

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/im·poɾ·ˈtaɾ un pi·ˈmjen·to/

To matter a pepper.

Frequency

ConversationVery common

JournalismOccasional

LiteraryRare

AcademicVery rare

In English

not to matter at all; **not to matter at all**; **not to care**; **to mean nothing**; **I couldn't care less**; **not to give a damn** (stronger)

Meaning

Importar un pimiento means not to matter at all, to be completely unimportant or to be of no concern.

Examples

Me importa un pimiento lo que digan.

I couldn't care less what they say.

Le importa un pimiento llegar tarde.

He doesn't care about being late.

A ellos les importa un pimiento el resultado.

They don't care about the result.

Me importa un pimiento quién tenga razón.

I don't care who's right.

The speaker wishes to emphasise that something deserves little or no attention.

The expression often conveys indifference, impatience or even contempt.

Used when

something is irrelevant
they do not care about an opinion
a result makes no difference
they wish to dismiss an issue
they want to stress complete lack of interest

Origin

The expression belongs to a long Spanish tradition of using everyday objects—especially inexpensive vegetables—to symbolise something of negligible value.

A pimiento was never chosen because of any special characteristic.

It simply represented something ordinary and insignificant.

For centuries, speakers have substituted different vegetables while preserving exactly the same meaning.

Cultural note

Spanish has an extraordinary number of expressions built around this idea.

Depending on the region or the speaker, you may also hear:

importar un pepino
importar un comino
importar un rábano
importar un bledo

The object changes.

The meaning does not.

For many Spaniards, choosing one instead of another is simply a matter of personal habit.

Did you know?

Spanish is unusually rich in expressions that measure importance using tiny or inexpensive objects.

A conversation may move effortlessly from un pimiento to un comino, un pepino or un bledo, and every native speaker understands exactly the same message:

It doesn't matter in the slightest.

For learners, this family of idioms is a perfect example of how Spanish often prefers colourful imagery to abstract statements such as "it is irrelevant."

For English speakers

Do not translate the expression literally.

English speakers would never say:

It matters a pepper.

Instead, choose expressions such as:

I don't care.
It doesn't matter at all.
I couldn't care less.

The vegetable itself has no equivalent in English.

It is simply part of the Spanish idiom.