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.”
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 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.
Yes, from context
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
But “consequently” and “so” and “in conclusion” can all be replaced by “therefore” in English as well as in French … if one accepts a lack of nuance and depth.
There are subtle differences in all of them, and for instance switching “suddenly” for “if I understand well” would often confuse the listener.
If someone “got a pig”, it means he got lucky in German. Often in a rather desperate or unexpected position. "Der hat mal so richtig Schwein gehabt“ -> “he really got pig there” could for example be used if someone narrowly escaped an accident, if you managed to get exactly the minimum passing score in an exam, etc.
Apparently the expression comes from the middle ages, where the second place in a lucky draw was often a literal piglet. So you maybe didn’t get the main prize, but at least you got pig.
Got pig, without the „a“. I have never heard „ein Schwein haben“, unless it is meant literally.
I started listing some in Japanese, but realized this site does a better job than I could: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-idioms/ I’ve heard a fair number of those in person, some frequently.
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.
As an English speaker I would naturally interpret “You are worth dick” and “you are not worth dick” in the same way.
Central America? Those kind of “click” for me if I retranslate them to Spanish with verga.
The “basic” insult also works in Portuguese with “caralho”:
- vale um caralho (worth a dick) = worth nothing
- não vale um caralho (not worth a dick) = worth nothing
“Go get your hair brushed by a donkey”: Stop pestering / go fuck yourself.
This sound hilarious. How is it phrased in the original? “Anda que un burro vos cepille el pelo” or something like that?
South america!
I didn’t know that also works in Portugese!
The original is: “Vaya a que lo peine un burro”. Bit of a hard translation and also is always formal (usted).
Oooh as a non native speaker, these are fun! Are the first two something like no vales polla or no vales ni polla?
Quite close! But we use another word, polla is mainly use in spain.
“[No] vales [ni] [tres tiras de] verga/mondá”
But if you use ni you necesarly need the no at the begining of the sentence.
Mondá is a slang word, very regional. Is also a bit more agressive.
German:
tie a bear on so. / so.'s back - to fool so.
make so. believe a X is an U - to fool so.
being blue - being drunk
the devil is a squirrel - devil is in the details
–
My favourite is hard to translate.
‘verschlimmbessern’ - to want to fix something but making it worse in doing so.
Imbadprove maybe
I want to add some:
The core of the poodle - the truth, the solution to a riddle
Being on the wood way - Being confidently wrong
Butter to the fish - lets be honest and come to the point
That is like jacket and troursers - two things being the same
This is like jumping and leaping - two actions being the same
To make a worseprovement! I like that one.
Swede here.
Phrase : “Nu har du skitit i det blå skåpet”
Translation : “Now you have taken a shit in the blue cupboard”
Meaning : “You really fucked up now”.
In Norwegian we say either “you shit on your leg”, “you shit on the shovel” or “you shit on the drawbar (of a horse-drawn carriage)” for the same thing.
And if you’re “out bicycling” you’re making a mistake, like if you’re doing a crossword and you realize that some of the previous words definitely weren’t right, or you’re doing math and you realize that you definitely made a calculation error earlier because nothing makes sense.
If someone says you’re “all out on the field” (“helt på jordet”) it means they think what you just said was completely wrong.
The Norwegian equivalent of “a hard act to follow” is “like (ski) jumping after Wirkola”, a ski jumper who was definitely way better than both you and everyone else.
And if there are owls in the moss (“ugler i mosen”) something is pretty fishy.
Cool. We also use “Out bicycling” and “Owls in the bog” the exact same way in Sweden.
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).
Picking a few amusing ones from Portuguese and Italian that I use often.
- [PT] um polaco de cada colônia (a Pole from each colony): assortment of random items or people that might look related but aren’t.
- [PT] o que o cu tem a ver com as calças? (what does the arse/arsehole have to do with the pants?): how is this shit even related [to something else implicit by context]?
- [PT] vir com o milho enquanto alguém já comeu a polenta (to bring the maize while someone already ate the polenta) - to think about something after someone else already handled it
- [IT] dire pane al pane e vino al vino (say “bread” for the bread and “wine” for the wine) - let’s speak clearly, OK? No [eu/dys]phemism, let’s call things by what they are.
- [IT] scoprire l’acqua calda (to discover hot water) - it’s a bit like English “to reinvent the wheel”: everybody already knew it, but you just realised it.
- [IT] l’ospite è come il pesce / [PT] a visita é como o peixe (guest is like fish) - don’t overdo your stay; guests and fish, both stink on the third day.
- [IT] non avere peli sulla lingua / [PT] não ter pelos na língua (to not have hair on the tongue) - someone who speaks openly, not holding back
There’s also a funny Latin insult that I tend to jokingly use translated fairly often, “funge putride” (you rotten mushroom). I like it because it’s really light, not something to really insult someone.
I love the “what does the ass have to do with the pants” one.
There’s a Dutch saying “gasten en vis blijven drie dagen vers”.
Guests and fish stay fresh for the days. Very similar meaning
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.
Also from Piemonte I’ve never heard the horse brand one but “three hens brand” was used regularly when I was a kid.
My favourite though is “Coma na barca ant el bòsch”, like a boat in the woods
Italian here (Veneto) How do you say it in your dialect? The ball bearing one. I really can’t translate it myself into something that could make sense to me.
In Dutch “that hits (fits) like pliers on a pig”, meaning that it’s completely absurd.
“Blood crawl where it can’t go”, means that if you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way.
“For an apple and an egg” means it’s very cheap. But “little apple little egg” means it’s very easy.
But my alltime favourite is “poepje”, which is a term of endearment that little means “little shit”
Russian, my favourite one: when a crayfish whistles on a mountain. Means never gonna happen.
“Ich glaub mein Schwein pfeift” (I think my pig is whistling) - in German that means “I can’t believe it”.
Portuguese has a plethora of expressions like that:
- trinta e um de fevereiro (the 31st of February)
- na semana com duas quintas (in the week with two Thursdays)
- nem que a vaca tussa (not even if the cow coughed)
- quando galinha tiver dente (when chickens get teeth)
- nem a pau (not even by [being beaten with a] wood[en rod or stick])
- nem fodendo (not even fucking)
- nem aqui, nem lá na China (neither here, nor in China)
When pigs fly.
Or you can say “after a rainfall on thursday” which means the same thing, never gonna happen.
In Norwegian we say “helt sylta” (“completely pickled”) when we have a very stuffy nose. I tried using that idiom when calling out of work in the US once, and was informed that I had just told them I was too drunk to go to work!
Yeah it’s common in English that saying “I’m Xed” means drunk.
Fucked, twated, trollied, muntered, cunted, steamed etc.
According to John Oliver you can use any noun, like for example “gazeboed”.
That’s generally true, but there are some exceptions. For instance. “I’m pissed” can either mean “I’m drunk” or “I’m angry” depending on where you are and the context.
Yeah, some nouns are already taken, that’s fair. Like “shafted”.
UK would always be drunk, in my experience.
Yeah, that’s one of the geographical differences I was alluding to. In Canada it can mean either depending on context.
That’s interesting to know. I guess there has been some cultural spillover in the UK so some may use it the American style, I just haven’t heard it.
100% people in the UK would know what you meant straight away.
I love the Norwegian “helt Texas” or “completely Texas”, which means something’s totally crazy. Probably a reference to Westerns.
A classic! I don’t know how I forgot to mention that one, I even coincidentally explained it to someone earlier today!
I feel like it’s accurate to say Texas is completely Texas.
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Cubans have the antonym to that:
Aserlo como los blancos “Do it like white people”
Do it properly 😜
Almost forgot “jalla” or “jallamekk”, originally adopted by Norwegian military from a middle eastern word for “fast”, meaning a quick and dirty, but not particularly high quality, solution.
Spanish: me cago en la leche. I shit in the milk. Like… fuck, damn! Being annoyed at something.
