The foreign idioms game

[Maryanne Solo]

Hello, hau do you do? ^^ *chop 😲😆

[Amanda Crisp]

In Veteran-ese: “Got any cheese to go with that?”

Long version:  “Got any cheese to go with that Whine?”

Translation: “You can stop whining now.”

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Amanda Crisp

[ChinRey]

Here's one I remembered when watching a video about a certain prime minister in a certain European country.

Norwegian: "Han oppfant ikke kruttet"

Literal translation: "He didn't invent the gunpowder"

Meaning: Intelligence isn't exactly his strongest quality.

Extended version: "Han oppfant ikke kruttet, men han var der da det smalt"

Translation: "He didn't invent the gunpowder but he was there when it blew up"

[Chie Salome]

「痘痕も靨」 (abata mo ekubo, Japanese proverb)

"Pimples be dimples"

Love is blind.  When you are madly in love with someone, even pimples and pockmarks on their face can look as charming as dimples. 

[Sid Nagy]

6 hours ago, ChinRey said:

Here's one I remembered when watching a video about a certain prime minister in a certain European country.

Norwegian: "Han oppfant ikke kruttet"

Literal translation: "He didn't invent the gunpowder"

Meaning: Intelligence isn't exactly his strongest quality.

Extended version: "Han oppfant ikke kruttet, men han var der da det smalt"

Translation: "He didn't invent the gunpowder but he was there when it blew up"

We have the same one in Dutch too, but only the short version:
"Hij heeft het buskruit niet uitgevonden."

[examining]

kalio gaidourodene para gaidourogireve (greek)

i'ts better to tie a donkey than look for a donkey

better prevent than cure

 

moirazo dyo gaidaron axera

distribute straw to two donkeys

achieve simple jobs

 

dyo gaidaroi malonane se xenon axyrona

two donkeys quarrel in somebody else's barn

third parties interfere in one's own business

 

[Jordyn McGregor]

A little Kiwi-ism for ya...self explanatory.

Harden up soft c o c k.

[Krystina Ferraris]

Here’s an Italian one I heard yesterday.

”Quello è fuori come un balcone”

”he’s outside like a balcony”

what it actually means is to be out of your mind. Balconies are facing outwards in a building so that’s where the being outside part comes from. 
It derives from an Italian expression “fuori di testa” transl. “Out of one’s mind” that is commonly abbreviated in conversations as “essere fuori”. For example, “tranquillo quella è fuori” translates non literally to “no worries pal, she’s mad”. 😆

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

Here's some idioms that the English and Dutch languages share:

 

Als de kat van huis is, dansen de muizen op tafel.

As the cat from house is, dance the mice on table. (Literal)

When the cat's away, the mice will play. (Proper)

When no one's looking, you can do naughty things.

 

Dat is paarlen voor de zwijnen.

That is pearls before the swine. (Both literal and proper, I think because it's from the Bible)

Offering something of quality that won't be appreciated by the recipient.

[Cinos Field]

My favorite Swedish idiomatic expression to explain to people is...

"Ana ugglor i mossen"

"Sense owls in the marshes"

The english equivalent would be to "smell a rat". The etymology is probably that someone in a game of linguistic telephone mixed up "ulvar" (old-timese for wolves) and "ugglor" (owls), which would make a little more sense to be cautious about.

A bonus!

"Glida fram på räkmacka"

"Slide forth on a shrimp sandwich"

Which means "to have an easy life (possibly by riding someone else's coattails)". I suppose shrimp sandwiches are just that luxurious.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Cinos Field

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

When no one's looking, you can do naughty things.

Yes, great fun, watching people who think no one is looking!

Edited July 14, 2021 by Love Zhaoying

[Sukubia Scarmon]

"Im Dreieck springen" - to jump in a triangle (formation) - to flip the f out

"Ich glaub' mein Schwein pfeift" - I believe my pig whistles - to express disbelief when someone says/does somethign stupid

"Du hast doch Tomaten auf den Augen" - You've got to have tomatoes on your eyes - to tell someone they must be blind to not see the obvious

[Krystina Ferraris]

1 hour ago, Sukubia Scarmon said:

"Im Dreieck springen" - to jump in a triangle (formation) - to flip the f out

Love this basically jump around to avoid something, like in checkers 😅

[Sukubia Scarmon]

Got some more for y'all!

"Then Holzweg zuende gehen" - "To walk the wooden path to its end" - About being consequent, even if it's stupid.
"Da bist du auf dem Holzweg" - "You're on the wooden path here" - having the wrong idea
(I guess wooden paths aren't too popular in germany, haha)

"Die Suppe hast du dir selbst eingebrockt" - "You dunked the bread into the soup yourself" - when something is ones own fault
You can add "Jetzt musst du sie auch selbst auslöffeln" - "now you have to eat the dish yourself" - Dealing with consequences by oneself

"Da wird doch der Hund in der Pfanne verrückt" - "the dog becomes crazy in the pan" - to express surprise/disbelief

"Den Wald for lauter Bäumen nicht sehen" - "Not seeing the forest due to the many trees." - Not seing the obvious due to being to focused on a detail

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

19 hours ago, Sukubia Scarmon said:

"Die Suppe hast du dir selbst eingebrockt"

We have one about soup in Dutch too, with a different meaning:

"De soep wordt niet zo heet gegeten als die wordt opgediend."

"The soup won't be eaten as hot as when it was served."

It's not as bad as it looks/sounds.

19 hours ago, Sukubia Scarmon said:

"Den Wald for lauter Bäumen nicht sehen"

In Dutch: "Je kunt door de bomen het bos niet meer zien."

In English: "You can't see the forest for the trees."

 

For 'forest', English has the synonyms 'bush' and 'woods', from Dutch and German, 'bos', 'woud', and 'Busch' and 'Wald', respectively. 'Forest' was adopted from the Normand/French 'forêt'. I have no idea where the word 'tree' comes from, though. Its cousin 'boom' ('boom' and 'Baum' in Dutch and German), apparently survives in English with a slightly related, but different meaning.

Edited July 17, 2021 by Arduenn Schwartzman

[Sukubia Scarmon]

44 minutes ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

We have one about soup in Dutch too, with a different meaning:

"De soep wordt niet zo heet gegeten als die wordt opgediend."

"The soup won't be eaten as hot as when it was served."

It's not as bad as it looks/sounds.

In Dutch: "Je kunt door de bomen het bos niet meer zien."

In English: "You can't see the forest for the trees."

 

For 'forest', English has the synonyms 'bush' and 'woods', from Dutch and German, 'bos', 'woud', and 'Busch' and 'Wald', respectively. 'Forest' was adopted from the Normand/French 'forêt'. I have no idea where the word 'tree' comes from, though. Its cousin 'boom' ('boom' and 'Baum' in Dutch and German), apparently survives in English with a slightly related, but different meaning.

We have the same one about the soup as well!
"Die Suppe wird nicht so heißt gegessen wie sie serviert wird!"

Found a site where it says it's from protogermanic trewwo, but that means fidelity/pledge, which seems like a pretty long leap to me - another source I found said from Anglo-Saxon "treb" or Treow" for tree, which makes a bit more sense in my eyes!
http://msaf.forest.mtu.edu/ForestInfo/MSUElibrary/Words-Derivation.PDF

I found it super faszinating how much german has in common with old english, and dutch-  there's a lot of common words - I mean, still is but it was even more. My favorite would be OE - Springan - DE Springen - EN Jumping - what's it in dutch? 

[Fritigern Gothly]

1 hour ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

It's not as bad as it looks/sounds.

The following would be bad though:

NL: Alles loopt in de soep!
LIT: Everything walks into the soup!
EN: Everything is going wrong!
 

[Fritigern Gothly]

11 hours ago, Sukubia Scarmon said:

My favorite would be OE - Springan - DE Springen - EN Jumping - what's it in dutch? 

Glad to see I am not the only one who is fascinated by the similarities between Old English, German and Dutch.
Jumping in Dutch would be "springen".

BTW, consider the following Old English word: "Oððe". The letter ð (eth) is a so-called voiced dental fricative and is pronounced pretty much like the "th" in "thing", "thwart" and "both". Thus "oððe" sounds like "oth-the" or "other" without the R.

• The Old English "Oððe" means "or" in modern English
• In modern German, the "th" morphed into a "d" and thus the word became "oder" in German where often the R is not pronounced.
• In Dutch, the voiced dental fricative morphed into the opposite direction and became an F where it is now pronounced as "of".

And people wonder why I find languages so fascinating!  

Edited July 17, 2021 by Fritigern Gothly

[Sid Nagy]

54 minutes ago, Sukubia Scarmon said:

We have the same one about the soup as well!
"Die Suppe wird nicht so heißt gegessen wie sie serviert wird!"

Found a site where it says it's from protogermanic trewwo, but that means fidelity/pledge, which seems like a pretty long leap to me - another source I found said from Anglo-Saxon "treb" or Treow" for tree, which makes a bit more sense in my eyes!
http://msaf.forest.mtu.edu/ForestInfo/MSUElibrary/Words-Derivation.PDF

I found it super faszinating how much german has in common with old english, and dutch-  there's a lot of common words - I mean, still is but it was even more. My favorite would be OE - Springan - DE Springen - EN Jumping - what's it in dutch? 

If one is a bit familiar with old Dutch, old English isn't that hard to read either.

I'm from the Dutch province Limburg and if you know one of the local dialects from the south or middle part of the province, then German is a piece of cake.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

Funny how some words have retained their old meaning in German and Dutch, but in English refer to something related, yet different.

 

German / Dutch / English

Baum (tree) / boom (tree) / boom (movable wooden pole)

Fleisch (meat) / vlees (meat) / flesh (human muscle tissue)

Spring (jump) / spring (jump) / spring (rigid metal coil)

Stuhl (chair) / stoel (chair) / stool (backless chair)

Tapfer (brave) / dapper (brave) / dapper (neatly dressed, lol)

Hund (dog) / hond (dog) / hound (certain types of hunting dog)

Schlimm (bad) / slim (smart) / slim (thin)

Schmerz (pain) / smart (pain) / smart (smart, but also neatly dressed lmao)

schmal (narrow) / smal (narrow) / small (small)

How could I forget this one?

Deutsch (German) / Duits (German) / Dutch (Dutch)

Edited July 17, 2021 by Arduenn Schwartzman

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

3 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

I'm from the Dutch province Limburg and if you know one of the local dialects from the south or middle part of the province, then German is a piece of cake.

I grew up in South-Holland, but spent my highschool years in Limburg. I had a really hard time keeping up with my friends in German class. Quite the opposite for Dutch and English, though.  

[Sid Nagy]

I almost never studied grammar or idiom during German classes, I only read the required literature list. I still scored high grades.

Similar with English.
I learned that as a young kid from German TV !!.  There where English lessons on Sunday morning before the kids stuff. Walter and Conny was the name of the program.
And the rest I learned from Dutch TV  by ignoring the subtitles more and more. And in those days almost all series and movies where in English and as you might know, we  subtitle every foreign program and keep the original language.
Nowadays my written English is far better than my spoken one.
I write it on a daily basis but I haven't spoken it since somewhere in the early nineties other than during a very occasional phone call with American family.

Edited July 17, 2021 by Sid Nagy

[Sukubia Scarmon]

1 hour ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

Glad to see I am not the only one who is fascinated by the similarities between Old English, German and Dutch.
Jumping in Dutch would be "springen".

BTW, consider the following Old English word: "Oððe". The letter ð (eth) is a so-called voiced dental fricative and is pronounced pretty much like the "th" in "thing", "thwart" and "both". 

• The Old English "Oððe" means "or" in modern English
• In modern German, the "th" morphed into a "d" and thus the word became "oder" in German where often the R is not pronounced.
• In Dutch, the voiced dental fricative morphed into the opposite direction and became an F where it is now pronounced as "of".

And people wonder why I find languages so fascinating!  

Right?  
Also, considering I know not a single german who has not a problem to pronounce "th", myself included, it doesn't really suprise me it morphed into a d, haha. 

I actually live pretty much next to the border to NL, near Aachen, so it's a cats leap to Maastricht! Also, spend a good amount of my holidays sailing on the ijsselmeer and around Leeuwarden. I do understand a little bit of dutch when it's spoken to me, slooowly, haha. 
I wonder if I could understand it better if I'd understand the local dialect here - I don't speak it, despite living here all my life, but I assume it's coloured by dutch as well. It's similliar to Kölsch, the dialect of cologne.

[Sid Nagy]

 

35 minutes ago, Sukubia Scarmon said:

Right?  
I actually live pretty much next to the border to NL, near Aachen, so it's a cats leap to Maastricht! Also, spend a good amount of my holidays sailing on the ijsselmeer and around Leeuwarden. I do understand a little bit of dutch when it's spoken to me, slooowly, haha. 
I wonder if I could understand it better if I'd understand the local dialect here - I don't speak it, despite living here all my life, but I assume it's coloured by dutch as well. It's similliar to Kölsch, the dialect of cologne.

Hey Sukubia, then we live relatively near to each other. I live 3 kilometers from the German border somewhere close to Heerlen.

Our local dialect has indeed more similarities with Kölsch than with the ones spoken around Aachen or Vaals on the Dutch side.
Die Höhner, Bläck Fööss and Brings are totally popular therefor during our Carnaval as well.

Edited July 17, 2021 by Sid Nagy

[Sukubia Scarmon]

7 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

 

Hey Sukubia, then we live relatively close to each other. I live 3 kilometers from the German border somewhere close to Heerlen.

Our local dialect has indeed more similarities with Kölsch than with the ones spoken around Aachen or Vaals on the Dutch side.
Die Höhner, Bläck Föös and Brings are totally popular therefor during our Carnaval as well.

Haha, we used to drive to the Ikea in Heerlen pre-pandemic, because it's a bit closer to me than the one in Köln!  So chances are high I drove by your town!

I wonder, I don't really know the Aachener dialect, except for "Och herm", lol. But yeah, they're poluar here as well, of course, but I don't really understand them, heh.

funfact: I speak the local dialect so little, that my mother and my grandma could effectively talk to each other without me understanding them! My mother once got me totally confused when she told me to get her the Öljelche - which apparently means little onions.