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152

Multilingual folks: what are some odd idioms in your language(s)? (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by alquicksilver@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

164 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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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[–] logos@sh.itjust.works 15 points 8 months ago (2 children)

björntjänst bear-favor: From a French fable (L’Ours et l’Amateur des jardins by Jean de La Fontaine) in which a tame bear wants to do his master a favor by hitting the fly who sat down on the master's forehead, but hits the fly so hard that the master too is killed.

Interesting

[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Some Norwegian politicians have completely ruined this expression, and now use it to mean "a really big favor".

It's almost as annoying as when Americans say they "could care less" when they mean the opposite.

[–] crispy_kilt@feddit.de 1 points 8 months ago

Not as annoying as when they say Caucasian and it means European-looking people, not people from the Caucasus.

[–] lemmylommy@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

Bärendienst in German.