this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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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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[–] ABCDE 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Spanish: me cago en la leche. I shit in the milk. Like... fuck, damn! Being annoyed at something.

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[–] owsei 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

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.

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[–] Jumi 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It is not the yellow from the egg but I understand only train station. My lovely gentleman's singing club, I think I spider!

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

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"

[–] schteph 5 points 4 months ago

Croatian "Ovce i novce" - literally sheep and the money. Same meaning as have your cake and eat it. "Kašika mu u med pala" - spoon fell into honey, meaning he got lucky "Tako ti je grah pao" - this is the way beans fell, meaning it is what it is "Izvukao si deblji kraj" - you got the fatter end, opposite meaning from you got the shorter end. It's kind of a weird one, as it is also sometimes used to mean the same as the shorter end. "Da ti dupe puta vidi" - so your behind can see the trip. Meaning to travel for no special reason, usually used when a reason is given, but is probably just an excuse to travel

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

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")
[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Never fear the sea, fear the storm.

[–] SzethFriendOfNimi 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

What’s the sense/meaning of this one?

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

"The bamboo is moaning" It's raining really hard.

[–] Siethron 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

In Japanese they say "sonotori" translated literally it means "that bird" the English idiom equivalent is "on the nose"

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

I hate to be "that guy", but 鳥/とり/tori (bird) isn't related to the 通り/とおり/toori (way, road, etc) in the phrase.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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.

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