Ask Lemmy

Picking a few amusing ones from Portuguese and Italian that I use often.

• [PT] um polaco de cada colônia (a Pole from each colony): assortment of random items or people that might look related but aren't.
• [PT] o que o cu tem a ver com as calças? (what does the arse/arsehole have to do with the pants?): how is this shit even related [to something else implicit by context]?
• [PT] vir com o milho enquanto alguém já comeu a polenta (to bring the maize while someone already ate the polenta) - to think about something after someone else already handled it
• [IT] dire pane al pane e vino al vino (say "bread" for the bread and "wine" for the wine) - let's speak clearly, OK? No [eu/dys]phemism, let's call things by what they are.
• [IT] scoprire l'acqua calda (to discover hot water) - it's a bit like English "to reinvent the wheel": everybody already knew it, but you just realised it.
• [IT] l'ospite è come il pesce / [PT] a visita é como o peixe (guest is like fish) - don't overdo your stay; guests and fish, both stink on the third day.
• [IT] non avere peli sulla lingua / [PT] não ter pelos na língua (to not have hair on the tongue) - someone who speaks openly, not holding back

There's also a funny Latin insult that I tend to jokingly use translated fairly often, "funge putride" (you rotten mushroom). I like it because it's really light, not something to really insult someone.

In Dutch "that hits (fits) like pliers on a pig", meaning that it's completely absurd.

"Blood crawl where it can't go", means that if you want it bad enough, you'll find a way.

"For an apple and an egg" means it's very cheap. But "little apple little egg" means it's very easy.

But my alltime favourite is "poepje", which is a term of endearment that little means "little shit"

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.

In Indonesian, there's an idiom "guru kencing berdiri, murid kencing berlari" which literally translates to teacher pee standing, students pee running. Meaning that students/followers learn not only good examples but the bad as well, and will one day be better at it than their predecessors.

It is not the yellow from the egg but I understand only train station. My lovely gentleman's singing club, I think I spider!

Dutch has a few that some say are insane-sounding but for me make a lot of sense as a native English speaker:

• Bekijk een gegeven paard niet in de bek "don't look a gift horse in the mouth"
• Ik geef een vinger en je neemt een vuist "I give an inch and you take a mile"
• De geest is uit de fles "the genie's out the bottle"
• De ene zijn dood is de andere zijn brood (literally "one's death is the other's bread" but I can't think of an English equivalent)
• Bier en wijn is fijn; wijn en bier is verkeerd "beer and wine is fine; wine and beer is queer" although that's quite a literal saying
• Een kruim is toch brood (literally "a crumb is still bread")

Never fear the sea, fear the storm.

In Danish we have "Goddag mand økseskaft" (literal: goodday man axe shaft) which can either mean you and another person is misunderstanding eachother/speaking about two complete things while thinking it is related, or it can mean that something gives absolutely no sense. The reason why I like it, is that even the Danish sentence makes no sense, eg. not a valid sentence. Another one I like is "ikke kunne se skoven for bare træer" (literal: not being able to see the forest for because of bare/naked/leafless trees - another might be: not being able to see the forest because of the trees) it means to lose the bigger picture, or to not find something right infront of you, eg. Looking for your phone while speaking with someone, that person could say it.

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.

In Japanese they say "sonotori" translated literally it means "that bird" the English idiom equivalent is "on the nose"

"The bamboo is moaning" It's raining really hard.

Croatian "Ovce i novce" - literally sheep and the money. Same meaning as have your cake and eat it. "Kašika mu u med pala" - spoon fell into honey, meaning he got lucky "Tako ti je grah pao" - this is the way beans fell, meaning it is what it is "Izvukao si deblji kraj" - you got the fatter end, opposite meaning from you got the shorter end. It's kind of a weird one, as it is also sometimes used to mean the same as the shorter end. "Da ti dupe puta vidi" - so your behind can see the trip. Meaning to travel for no special reason, usually used when a reason is given, but is probably just an excuse to travel

I started listing some in Japanese, but realized this site does a better job than I could: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-idioms/ I've heard a fair number of those in person, some frequently.