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Multilingual folks: what are some odd idioms in your language(s)? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 4 months ago by alquicksilver to c/asklemmy

164 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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."

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] lemmylommy 2 points 4 months ago

Got pig, without the „a“. I have never heard „ein Schwein haben“, unless it is meant literally.