What are some (non-English) idioms, and what do they mean (both literally and in context)? Odd ones, your favorite ones - any and all are welcome. :)
For example, in English I might call someone a “good egg,” meaning they’re a nice person. Or, if it’s raining heavily, I might say “it’s raining cats and dogs.”
“o que é um peido pra quem já está cagado?”
What’s a fart to someone who already shit himself?
If you’re already 30 minutes late, don’t speed recklessly to save 3 minutes.
Haha! The equivalent in Ireland (not sure if it’s used in other English speaking countries) is “may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb”
Makes me think of " Why cry over spilled milk?" Which never made any sense to me lol
tnh I think the spilled milk saying is more about things that you can’t control / already happened.
and the Brazilian saying is more like “it’s ok to let a little more milk get spilled”, however I can’t think of a nice way of saying that.
edit: thinking more about that, maybe the milk saying can be used for this, but not necessarily
Yeah it didnt feel directly relatable but maybe adjacent to it
Fun question! There’s an abundance in Vietnamese. Usually used by parents and/or old folk (I can hear it now…)
Mèo khen mèo dài đuôi — Literal translation “cat praises cat’s long tail.” A way of expressing narcissism.
Uống nước nhớ nguồn — Literal translation is “drink water, remember roots.” So you’d pause, reflect, and remember where you came from.
Gieo gió gặt bão— Literal translation is “sow winds, weather storms.” A way of saying “you reap what you sow.”
Có công mài sắt có ngày nên kim — Literal translation “Perseverance grinds iron some day into needles.” Used like “practice makes perfect.”
Trời có mắt — Literal translation “Heaven has eyes.” Usually used when someone’s wronged, but don’t worry - heaven is watching.
Gần mực thì đen, gần đèn thì sáng — Literal translation “near the ink it blackens, near the lamp it lights.” You’re influenced by those you’re around.
Nuôi ong tay áo — Literal translation “raise bees in shirtsleeve.” As in “to nurture a snake in one’s bosom,” kindness will be met by betrayal.
In most languages, “get well soon” is expressed as good wishes. In Russian, they use the imperative form, so it is like an order or a command. It’s буд здоров(а), which is literally “be healthy” as a command. They also use it as “bless you” after sneezing. (For those whoe can’t read Cyrillic, in Latin it’s approximately said like “bud zdarov(a)”. The -a suffix is the female version, without it is male.)
In French, the expression “du coup” (it means something like “therefore” or “so” or “thus”) can be used in place of like 10 other expressions.
- Ainsi
- Donc
- Alors
- Tout à coup
- Soudainement
- En conclusion
- Si je comprends bien
- De ce fait
- Ce qui fait que
- En conséquence
- Consequémment
Is all being replaced by “du coup”.
In German, capitalisation matters. In contrast with many other languages, nouns must be capitalised, or it changes the meaning. For example:
- Helft den Armen vögeln
- Helft den armen Vögeln
Notice how only the capitalisation changed. The first sentence means “help the poor to fuck” while the second sentence means “help those poor birds”.
I didn’t know that about German and capitalization. That’s fascinating! How would that play out verbally? Would you just have to figure it out from context?
Yes, from context
I took German classes in high school and have been struggling ever since not to automatically capitalize nouns when I write in English. It’s been like 25 years.
In Brazil we have “É de cair o cu da bunda” “Makes the butthole fall out of the ass”, which indicates something impressive/unexplainable.
And “Que que tem o cu com as calças?” “What does the ass have to do with the pants?”. Which asks for the relation of two completely different things. It is generally used as doubting there’s a relationship at all.
Brazilian Portuguese does have lots of anus related sayings.
Dutch has a few that some say are insane-sounding but for me make a lot of sense as a native English speaker:
- Bekijk een gegeven paard niet in de bek “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”
- Ik geef een vinger en je neemt een vuist “I give an inch and you take a mile”
- De geest is uit de fles “the genie’s out the bottle”
- De ene zijn dood is de andere zijn brood (literally “one’s death is the other’s bread” but I can’t think of an English equivalent)
- Bier en wijn is fijn; wijn en bier is verkeerd “beer and wine is fine; wine and beer is queer” although that’s quite a literal saying
- Een kruim is toch brood (literally “a crumb is still bread”)
In Swedish there is
“Now the boiled pork is fried”, meaning sometging has gone too far
" be on the cinnamon", to be drunk
“Put the legs on your back”, to run
“You are out biking”, you are missing the point
“Pay[back] for old cheese”, to get revenge
" bear-favour", is a favour that gives bad results
“Now you’ll see other buns”, things will get rough
" there are no children being made here", nothing is happening/its boring/lets go
“Satan and his aunt”, all kinds of people/everyone
“Good day, axe-handle”, something like saying “yeah, you dumbfuck” after getting a nonsense repley from someone
“In only the brass”, to be naked
“Show where the cupboard will stand”, to firmly make a decision
“You cupboard”, miss the point, being stupid
" shit in the blue cupboard", to make a mistake
Edit: forgot a good one:
“Get your thumb out of your ass”, to stop doing nothing and start doing something
I thought “be on the cinnamon” was going to be my favorite, but the list just kept getting better. I think you ended on the best.
björntjänst bear-favor: From a French fable (L’Ours et l’Amateur des jardins by Jean de La Fontaine) in which a tame bear wants to do his master a favor by hitting the fly who sat down on the master’s forehead, but hits the fly so hard that the master too is killed.
Interesting
Some Norwegian politicians have completely ruined this expression, and now use it to mean “a really big favor”.
It’s almost as annoying as when Americans say they “could care less” when they mean the opposite.
Interestingly, English has the same exact expression (“get your thumb out of your ass”).
In Hebrew there is “para, para” which translates to “cow, cow” and it means “one at a time”
There is also “matzoz meh-ha-etzba” which translates to “sucked from the finger” and it means bullshit basically.
“Nishbar li ha-zain” which is “my penis broke” and it means “I’m done with this” in an angry and out of petience way.
In german we have the phrase “etwas aus den Fingern saugen”, which also translates to “to suck something from the finger” and also basically means it’s bs. Thanks for sharing!
Hebrew probably borrowed it since a lot of its slang comes from European countries
Catalan:
Enfilar-se per les parets — To be climbing the walls — To be very angry and / or nervous.
Ficar-se de peus a la galleda — To get one’s feet in the bucket — To say or do something inconvenient and / or embarrassing.
N’hi ha per llogar-hi cadires — [Roughly translated] You could rent chairs for this — Refers to something very noteworthy or interesting.
(Anar a) canviar l’aigua de les olives — To (go) change the olives’ water — To (leave for a quick) piss.
Descobrir la sopa d’all — To discover garlic soup — To believe you’ve discovered or come up with something that’s commonly known (except, apparently, to you).
(Estar) tocat del bolet — (To be, or have been) touched/hit on the mushroom — (To be) insane.
Fer figa — To do or make fig (literally, the fruit, or figuratively, the vulva) — To become weaker, unable to perform one’s intended function.
Fer el préssec — To do or make the peach — To put yourself in a ridiculous situation.
Fer uns ulls com unes taronges — To open one’s eyes like oranges — To look very surprised or interested.
Fer pinya — To make (like a) pinecone — To work together for a common cause.
Partir peres — To split up pears — To break up a relationship (sentimental, professional, or otherwise).
Remenar les cireres — To mix up the cherries — To be the person who makes the decisions, to be in control (in a partnership, organisation…). Also, Tallar el bacallà — To cut up the cod. Also, Tenir la paella pel mànec — To hold the pan by the handle.
Somiar truites — To dream of omelettes — To believe things that will hardly be possible to be possible. And, by extension, Somiatruites — Omelette dreamer — Someone who regularly does that; an extremely unreasonable optimist.
Suar la cansalada — To sweat (the) bacon — To do very hard tiring work or exercise.
Aixecar la camisa — To lift (someone’s) shirt — To scam, misdirect, or lie (to someone).
Això són figues d’un altre paner — These are figs from a different container — This is a completely different matter (than what we were talking about).
Bon vent i barca nova! — Good wind and a new boat! — Farewell to someone or something you’d rather never see again.
(Això és) bufar i fer ampolles — (This is) (like) blowing and making bottles — Refers to something that’s very easy to do or achieve. Can be used literally or ironically.
Caure-hi de quatre potes / peus — To fall in with all four legs / feet — To fall for a scam or lie.
(Ser) cornut i pagar el beure — (To be a) cuckold (literally, to have horns) and pay for the drinks — To voluntarily sacrifice for others who take advantage of you.
(Donar) gat per llebre — (To give) a cat pretending it’s a hare — To lie, scam, or misdirect. To substitute a lower quality product for what you agreed to provide.
El més calent és a l’aigüera — The hottest stuff is in the sink — Work hasn’t even started yet on whatever endeavour we’re talking about.
En un tres i no res — In a three and nought — In a very short time.
La mare dels ous — The mother of the eggs — The main cause or reason (of/for something).
Lligar els gossos amb llonganisses — To tie up the dogs with sausages — To be wealthy.
Fer mans i mànigues — To do/make hands and sleeves — To put as much effort as possible into something.
Fer un riu — To make a river — To piss.
Veure el llautó — To notice the brass — To notice the concealed truth behind appearances. (Literally, it refers to noticing something is made of a poorer quality metal than it’s claimed to be.)
Tenir mà esquerra — To have (sic) left hand — To be good at diplomacy.
Un orgue de gats — An organ (musical instrument) made out of cats — A very noisy and chaotic room or place.
And there’s plenty more, but I’ve already spent more time than I could afford typing these.
Oh, but also, not exactly an idiom, maybe, but something I’ve always thought says a lot about Catalan worldview: the Catalan word for pigsty is cort. Which is exactly the same word (and with the same meaning) as the Catalan word for court. As in royal court.
Maybe that’s where Orwell got his idea for Napoleon & co to be pigs…?
It is not the yellow from the egg but I understand only train station. My lovely gentleman’s singing club, I think I spider!
What that just one idiom ?
No, that are 4 different ones.
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We use “to build cloud castles” in German.
Oh tell me why ^do we build castles in the sky~^ ;)
In Indonesian, there’s an idiom “guru kencing berdiri, murid kencing berlari” which literally translates to teacher pee standing, students pee running. Meaning that students/followers learn not only good examples but the bad as well, and will one day be better at it than their predecessors.
This is English, but Canada specific as far as I know.
“Fucking the dog” - means to slack off, particularly at work.
“I fucked the dog all day at work today” basically means I got nothing done.
It is distinct from “screw the pooch” which means to fuck something up badly.
ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada): ಶಂಖದಿಂದ ಬಂದ್ರೇನೇ ತೀರ್ಥ - shankadinda bandrene teertha.
Literally: it’s holy water only if it comes from a conch.
Meaning: people are only going to take things seriously if a specific person says it.
Example scenario: you tell a friend that a cab to go somewhere costs X amount, but they don’t believe you and check with a different friend and then accept that it’s going to cost them X.
You’d then say this idiom to tease them since you gave them the same water (information) but it wasn’t holy water since you weren’t a conch (someone they trust/have faith in).
Spanish, but only from my region:
“You are worth dick”: You are worth nothing
“You are not worth dick”: You are worth nothing
So basically to be worth dick and not be worth dick is the same.
We also have some variation like
“You are [not] worth three trip strips of cock”: same meaning.
A bonus, not related to genitalia:
“Go get your hair brushed by a donkey”: Stop pestering / go fuck yourself.
My Egyptian ass be like: My time has come. Let’s see…
Turn the pot on its mouth, the girl turns out like her mother (no idea why it’s like this, literally no purpose other than that it rhymes). Used when a girl is like her mother, basically what it says on the cover. The guy version is “This cub from that lion”, which can’t be used for girls because lioness is an insult for some reason (kinda like bitch but stronger).
The winds come with what ships don’t want: Not everything happens as we want it to.
Going around and spinning: To try to trick someone or dodge a subject by making the conversation go in circles and not touch an important point. Speaking of spinning,
To spin around oneself: To be in trouble and really busy/not know what to do.
To pretend to be from Banha (a place in Egypt): To pretend you have nothing to do with what’s going on.
A black (sometimes blue or white) day or night: An unpleasant time/experience. Used as both a statement and a threat (like “your day will be black today” after your parents catch you doing something you’re not supposed to).
Have them for lunch before they have you for dinner: Attack before you’re attacked.
The monkey would’ve benefited himself: When you ask someone for something they would’ve done for themselves if they could.
Kahka with sugar: Zero (on exams). Kahk is an Egyptian biscuit-like sweet eaten on Eid, and it’s circular like a zero.
A pot with a hole is emptied on the one that lifts it: If you do something dumb you suffer the consequences.
Edit:
To get spanked: To fail.
To slam (your ass): To make up something (probably incorrect) in the moment. Comes from the idea of slamming your ass onto an exam paper and leaving whatever comes up as the answer.
