From Wikipedia: "An idiom is a term or phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use."
Different languages have different idioms for saying pretty much the same thing. For example, what a husband is afraid of when he stays out too late:
American English -- When I go home I’ll be in the doghouse!
Chinese -- When I go home my knees will be on the washboard (or abacus)!
Mexican Spanish -- When I go home the beans will be burning!
Danish -- When I go home I’ll be hit with a rolling pin!
French -- When I go home there will be water in the gas!
I've was wondering if perhaps some folks on this multilingual board have any they could share with me. The Internet has some info, but it's fairly limited.
Here's some popular ones, but feel free to share any you can think of!
Cost an arm and a leg -- To be very expensive
Sweep under the carpet -- To hide or make little of a matter that one does not want to discuss
Drink like a fish -- To drink far too much alcohol
Have egg on your face -- To be made to look foolish or embarrassed
Let the cat out of the bag -- To accidentally or intentionally reveal a secret
Cry crocodile tears -- To pretend one is crying
Have a skeleton in the closet -- To keep secret a dark, shameful, personal fact from the past
There's more than one way to skin a cat -- There are many different ways to achieve the same result
Have two left feet -- To be clumsy (a person with two left feet can't dance)
There are some English idioms which are a bit amusing, if not even illogical. For example:
Knock yourself out -- Go ahead / please begin
Tell me about it -- I fully agree (basically meaning the exact opposite, ie. "you don't have to tell me about it")
Joined: 8/1/2004
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alden: In Greek, it would be "When I get home, I'm going to eat wood!"
Warp: They are more logical than you think. "Knock yourself out" is the same concept as "break a leg," meaning "feel free to do that until you hit an excess." "Tell me about it" connotes that they are accepting your point and are interested to hear more.
Some German ones, though it's almost impossible to translate German particles (put into brackets). Sorry I'm too lazy to do gendering.
Note that I've included some unpopular ones too.
With him, the groat falls pennywise. -- He is a little slow on the uptake.
So, after all, it will (contrary to expectations) become a shoe. -- Suddenly I begin to understand the situation.
That's (surprisingly) a thing like a tub! -- I'm surprised, there's more to this thing than I would have expected upon first look.
(In this situation) even the dog in the pan goes crazy. -- What a totally uncomprehensible situation!
(If that should happen), I'll devour a broom including stick and sweepings. -- I bet that won't happen.
In his case, hops and malt are lost. -- He is a hopeless case.
The apple doesn't fall wide from the stem. -- He is just like his parents.
That's as funny as a bag full of weasels. -- That's so very funny. (irony)
He's full like a toilet's cig. (That's a specifically Austrian one) -- He is as drunk (full of alcohol) as cigs at the toilet are soaked up with something else.
To fall with the door into the house. -- To act fast without thinking.
So that's where the dog is buried! -- So that's the root of the matter.
No tail is as hard as life. -- Life is hard and unfair. 'No tail' could either refer to 'nobody' or to the male sexual organ here. It's a pun!
Everything has an end, only the sausage has two. -- Everything ends.
It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. -- It won't happen.
To drive with the (=by) church around the cross corner. -- To drive along strange ways to reach your destination.
Cool, good stuff!
Here's some American English equivalents to Kuwaga's:
(If that should happen), I'll devour a broom including stick and sweepings. -- I bet that won't happen.
-- I'll eat my hat
The apple doesn't fall wide from the stem. -- He is just like his parents.
-- The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
That's as funny as a bag full of weasels. -- That's so very funny. (irony)
-- As fun as a barrel of monkeys (not exactly the same, it's not usually used sarcastically)
I think this is my favorite though, I'm going to try using it:
Everything has an end, only the sausage has two. -- Everyting ends.
Hats can be eaten in German-speaking countries too. ;)
These also exist in German as well:
Sweep under the carpet
Let the cat out of the bag
Have two left feet
It's also possible to have two left hands here.
Wow, this thread is awesome! Some of the sayings are so insanely rediculous (sp) that I just laugh my ass off... then again, our sayings are sure to be just as weird to other countries XD
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
In french, "To have a bicycle in the head" means "to be crazy"
Also in english and french, "your eyes are bigger than your belly" means "you've eaten too much"
Edit: one more french one: "I have as much as a bowl filled to the brim" means (using more english idioms, heh) "I've had enough," "I'm sick of this," "I've had it up to here," "This has gone on too long," etc
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1978
Location: Making an escape
Tex Avery has something to add to the English side of the conversation. WARNING: Severe pun alert.
Other English idioms:
Shoot the breeze: Engage in small talk.
The tip of the iceberg: The beginning or most apparent part of a story or situation.
In Mexico, I understand the term "eggplant" means the same thing as the English "pickle" in the idiomatic sense.
And, just to live up to my namesake...
To ferret out: To discover or try to discover through deep investigation.
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
The tip of the iceberg: The beginning or most apparent part of a story or situation.
I thought that had more or less a literal meaning. "It's only the tip of the iceberg", that is, "this is just a small part of the whole thing, which is huge" (could be figurative, talking about eg. some situation or an idea, or literal, talking about a physical object or thing).
As long as it is not an iceberg you are talking about, it is still metaphorical language even if you are referring to a literal object :)
Keep 'em coming! I appreciate the input.
Here's some generic (American?) English ones:
The long and short of it -- Everything to do with something
Drives me round the bend -- Makes me crazy
Yorkshire (where I live) has a huge bunch of idioms and other silly language specific to it. I'll not list them all, as it would take all day.
OMFG. I almost "died laughing" because of that.
Some Icelandic ones translated to English:
To get a fly in one's head - to get a wacky idea
To turn on the light bulb - to figure something out
To play chess with the pope - to take a dump
Cost an arm and a leg -- To be very expensive
Have two left feet -- To be clumsy (a person with two left feet can't dance)
Finnish equivalents:
To cost strawberries (these are a big delicacy in summer and sometimes crop is late and prices are high)
To have the tumb in the middle of the palm
Other popular ones from the link:
No baby, no shit - Trying to do something really hard, but not making any progress
A poke in the eye for those, who dwell on the past
In a group stupidity condenses (TASvideos is the only exception :))
Death settles sleepdebts - Time enough to rest when dead (Useful for TAS'ers)
Like pissed while running - Used when something is done in a sloppy manner
Evil will get its pay - Doing wrong will get you problems in the end
One gets what one orders
Of a stupid head the whole body has to suffer
Variation refreshes(said a granny who changed her coffee brand)
The flaw doesn't need to be big, if it is in the head
In spanish:
To cost an eye of the face (not one of the chest or back, it has to be one from the face)
(It) already was/were/etc (past of to be) - This one is hard... "It's over already" depending on the context and subject replacing "It" it can mean forget about it, it's already screwed up, it's already lost, drop it, we are fucked, it's done already, it's over already, etc
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
maTO wrote:
No baby, no shit - Trying to do something really hard, but not making any progress
Funny. I didn't know people actually use this one. It is one of my favorites. I feel tempted to put it in my signature: "The result of this will be neither child nor shit."
Probably not idoms per se, but I enjoy saying "What, this is new?" or "Why are you saying this like we don't already know it?" when someone says something I already know.
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1978
Location: Making an escape
Oh, I got another good English one.
To bite the bullet: To approach a situation you know won't turn out well for you, mostly because of something you did. Used especially for approaching one's superior about something they did that was wrong.
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
Joined: 11/18/2006
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Location: Back where I belong
Ferret Warlord wrote:
Oh, I got another good English one.
To bite the bullet: To approach a situation you know won't turn out well for you, mostly because of something you did. Used especially for approaching one's superior about something they did that was wrong.
This one actually has a very literal history. In the 1700s, anesthesia was unheard of, so before surgery a patient was given a few options: To drink whiskey until they passed out, to get hit in the head with a hammer until they passed out, or stay awake for the surgery. Staying awake for the surgery led to some inevitable amounts of teeth grinding, so the patient was given a lead bullet to bite down on, but was a less than appealing option, which is nearly identical to the meaning now.
In Russian:
To be a like a turd in a polynya (hole in the ice on a frozen lake, this is the only translation i found) - To be indecisive
There's another colorful one where people have hands/fingers growing out their arses, but I'm not certain what it means.
Swedish has plenty which are the same as in English, such as a tough nut to crack - a difficult problem. Some I find funny:
clear as sausage stock - really obvious
with the beard in the mailbox - caught in the act
there's no cow on the ice - there's nothing to be worried about
out on the marmelade - in deep trouble
