Monday, May 11, 2015

"Stop ironing my head": famous foreign idiotisms




Introduction. I don't know how to introduce this. It's a stumble-upon, found late at night, so that the next morning I wondered if I had dreamed it.

Some of my favorite idiotisms/idia include the Cheyenne and Italian phrases, but I won't mention spoilers here. I like to illustrate my posts with images which may or may not be relevant, and these are definitely not, but neither are the phrases. The Jon Hamm gifs are vaguely relevant, but they're here mainly because Jon Hamm is such a fox, and Mad Men is nearly over. The links  to other idiotisms are worth pursuing, as I didn't have space for all them here. Jesus, people are weird!




Idioms and sayings in various languages

Idioms are expressions that don't mean what they appear to mean. For example, when you say 'it's raining cats and dogs', you don't mean that cats and dogs are falling out of sky, but rather that it's raining heavily. Idioms provide interesting insights into languages and thought processes of their speakers.

Arabic, Armenian, Aromanian, Cheyenne, Chinese, Cornish, Czech, Dutch,Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Irish (Gaelic),Italian, Japanese, Kashmiri, Klingon, Korean, Maltese, Mongolian, Norwegian,Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Welsh, Yiddish



Idioms in individual languages

Czech | French | Russian | Slovak | Spanish





Armenian

Գլուխս մի՛ արդուկեր: (Klookhys mee artooger)
Stop ironing my head! = Stop annoying me! (as in repetitively asking or talking about something)

Cheyenne
Mónésó'táhoenôtse kosa?
Are you still riding the goat? = separated from your spouse

Énêhpoése ma'eno.
The turtle is shrouded = it's foggy.

Étaomêhótsenôhtóvenestse napâhpóneehéhame.
My tapeworm can almost talk by itself = my stomach is growling.

Chinese (Mandarin / Cantonese)

一鼻孔出气 (yī bíkǒng chūqì / yāt beihhúng chēuthei)
breathing through the same nostril = singing from the same hymn sheet

杯弓蛇影 (bēi gōng shé yǐng / būi gōng sèh yíng)
seeing the reflection of a bow in a cup and thinking it's a snake = worring about things that aren't there





Czech
chodit kolem horké kaše
to walk around hot porridge = to beat about the bush

More idioms in Czech

Dutch

Ik zweet peentjes
I sweat carrots = I'm sweating like a pig

IJsberen
'to polar bear' (i.e. to pace up and down)

Estonian

Puust ja punaseks ette tegema
to make something out of wood and paint it red - to make something really clear

Finnish

pitkin hampain
with long teeth - (to do something) unwillingly

kiertää kuin kissa kuumaa puuroa
to pace around hot porridge like a cat = to beat about the bush




French

avoir les dents qui rayent le parquet
to have teeth that scratch the floor = to be extemely ambitious

J'ai d'autres chats à fouetter !
I have other cats to whip! = I have other fish to fry! - I have other things to do.

pédaler dans la choucroute
to pedal in the sauerkraut = to spin your wheels - to go nowhere

More idioms in French

Hindi

अंग-अंग ढीला होना
losing of all body parts = to get very tired

अंगारे उगलना
to excrete embers - to get very angry

खून सूखना
parching of blood = to become afraid

एक अनार सौ बीमार (ek anar sau biimar)
One fruit, one hundred ill

जंगल मेँ मोर नाचा किसने देखा? (jangal mein mor naca kisne dekha)
Peacock danced in the forest, who saw?

बंदर क्या जाने अदरक का स्वाद? (bandar kya jane adrak ka swad?)
A monkey doesn't knows the taste of ginger

डूबते को तिनके का सहारा (doobte ko tinke ka sahara)
A straw supports a drowning man




Indonesian

kuman di seberang lautan tampak, gajah di pelupuk mata tak tampak
the bacterium across the sea is seen, but the elephant on eyelid is not seen

Italian

avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto
to have one's eyes lined with ham = can't see the wood for the trees - to be unable to see what is distinctly in sight


avere le orecchie foderate di prosciutto
to have one's ears lined with ham = to be unable to hear what can be clearly heard

Japanese

尻が重い (shiri ga omoi)
heavy ass/arse - used for someone who is the opposite of a go-getter; a real slacker





Maltese

Iddur mal-lewża
Going round the almond = beat about the bush

Mongolian

бурхан оршоо бутын чинээ сахал урга (burkhan orshoo butin chinee sakhal urga)
God bless you and may your moustache grow like brushwood
(said when someone sneezes)

Norwegian

å være midt i smørøyet (bokmål) / å vere midt i smørauget (nynorsk)
to be in the middle of the butter melting in the porridge - to be in a very favourable place or situation





Russian

Вешать лапшу на уши (Vešat' lapšu na ušy)
To hang noodles on one's ears = to tell lies / talk nonsense

Serbian

Nosom para oblake
He's ripping clouds with his nose = He's conceited, puffed up

me estoy comiendo el coco
I'm eating the head = I'm trying to think

Turkish

Kafa ütüleme
Don't iron my head = Used when somebody repetitively talks about something.

Yiddish

Hak mir nisht kin chaynik
don't chop my teakettle = stop annoying me







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