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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] 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

In Piedmontese (northern Italian dialect):

"To be mounted over squared ball bearing" = to be really strange, not as other people

"Horse brand" = a product of an unknown low quality brand

"To beat the goat" = throw a tantrum

[–] kpaniz 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

"esse montà 'n sle bije quadre", and the literal translation in italian is "essere montato sulle biglie (cuscinetti a sfera) quadre"

[–] SkippingRelax 3 points 4 months ago

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