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.”

  • MTK@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    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.

  • leftzero@lemmynsfw.com
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    4 months ago

    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…?

  • HappyRedditRefugee@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    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.

  • owsei@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    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.

  • kava@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    “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.

    • khannie@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      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”

      • Jarix@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Makes me think of " Why cry over spilled milk?" Which never made any sense to me lol

        • owsei@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          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

  • Holyhandgrenade@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Icelandic is full of fun idioms:
    “He’s totally outside driving” = he’s very incorrect about something, possibly crazy
    “It’s hard to grab his horns” = He’s very headstrong and stubborn
    “A wave rarely comes alone” = If something bad happens, usually a lot of bad things happen at once
    “He hasn’t peed into the salty sea” = he’s young an inexperienced
    “He has unclean flour in the corner of the bag” = he’s untrustworthy
    “I totally come from the mountains” = I’m out of the loop, unaware of recent developments

  • crispy_kilt@feddit.de
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    4 months ago

    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”.

    • Skyhighatrist@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      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.

  • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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    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.

  • mumblerfish@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    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

  • tubbadu@lemmy.kde.social
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    4 months ago

    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

    • SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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      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