> > poison under veneer > Is this your own coinage? It's very good and I'm totally stealing it either way. Yes, English is not my first language and I was try

> > poison under veneer > Is this your own coinage? It's very good and I'm totally stealing it either way. Yes, English is not my first language and I was trying to remember a colloquialism to translate. I was thinking of the words "veneer" (often used to indicate something is hidden with malice in my mother tongue) and "poison" as in "a viper's tongue" which is "a sharp tongue" in English and other words but I couldn't remember any aphorisms in either of languages. I thought both words would be evocative enough to convey the meaning so I went with it.