Awesome Idioms From Around the World

Love these!

In Brazil, they have a saying “mão da vaca”, which translates as “hand of the cow”.
Basically someone who won’t spend money….hooves can’t get a wallet out of their pockets! My favourite!

I love this little collection, and my favorite idiom is Danish and German

Oh Joanna, I love all your posts that have to do with the quirks of language! We have SO MANY of these idioms in Arabic, my mom spews them out at me over almost every phone conversation we have :) Some of my favourites are “put your hand in cold water” which basically means “don’t worry”. Then there are REALLY typical Arab ones that relate to one’s family/tribe/ancestors etc like “his back is supported” which means “he is backed up” in terms of family or friends who have his back. And then the opposite of that one is “he is cut off from a tree” which means “he has no relatives”. Here are five great ones if you like!
http://www.barakabits.com/2014/08/5-arabic-idioms-dont-exist-english

And just so you know, you have a huge fan in me, all the way from Abu Dhabi :)

– Hala (www.halakhalaf.com)

I am Brazilian and the Portuguese idiom is definetly not correct. Fun post, though

My Louisianian MIL uses the expression “too much sugar for a dime” in reference to people who overly ingratiates themselves or for someone who is excessively needy/taskmaster-y. It is such an effective idiomatic expression:

“Oh, Mrs. Smith called *again* with more instructions for watering her plants while she’s at the beach. This is really becoming too much sugar for a dime.”

these are awesome. My official goal this week is to use “Not my circus, not my monkeys” in context at work.

I love in Thailand that they say
Same Same but Different

i speak fluent (mx) spanish, but my mom’s roots from mexico city just continues to amaze me as if it was the first time i heard them. and each time she says them with exquisite timing -you know, such a MOM thing- she has a gazillion, but these are mi faves:

“del plato a la boca, se cae la sopa”
from the plate to your mouth, the soup spills – anything can happen before you consider it done

“más sabe el diablo por viejo, que por diablo”
the devil is wise from age, not from being a little devil

“al buen entendedor, pocas palabras”
few words if you/they are good or sharp at ‘getting it’

“the best wine is the one drank with friends, and the best coffee is the one I drink with my daughter”
-this her new thing. squeeee

:)

The nuance of the Japanese one about having a wide face 「顔がひろい」is less about having a lot of friends and more about being well-known. If you’re at a party and a lot of people recognize you and greet you, it means you may have influence and importance. People might know you, but they’re not necessarily your friends.
Julie

When I first started learning Chinese, my teacher taught me 成语s, which are idioms typically made up of four characters, many of which have some kind of historical story behind it. They were so much fun to learn! Vocab and history all in one :) -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s

My English coworker didn’t realize that “It’s like teaching your grandmother to suck eggs” was not also an American idiom (describing instructing/giving advice that someone else already knows). We work with kiddos on the autism spectrum and one of our clients got in trouble at school for trying to use that one!

My handsome (also Dutch) hubby is “One of Many” here in Denver! Fun connection.

My favorite Dutch one, literally translated: now the monkey comes out of the sleeve! Which means that someone hasn’t been completely honest but now the truth is finally out.

Hi Jo – great post and I love sayings! In Portugal we have loads – LOADS! – but I’m afraid to say that the one you describe is actually wrong… The saying is ‘ feed sponge cake to a donkey” meaning that something is expensive/ not worth for someone :)

Well another blogger that I follow did tape bacon to his cat: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2006/09/13/clearly-you-people-thought-i-was-kidding/

But it had nothing to do with the idiom– more like he posted a to do list and no one believed he’d actually do it.
http://baconcat.com/

there is a similar saying in chinese to the feeding donkey spongecake…but it goes like ” it’s like feeding wheat to a turtle” My dad kept saying this when we were looking at modern art (about himself).

I love the idiom about saying something between cheese and dessert is bad timing! It’s so funny you can feel the cultural values demonstrated by language, to know a language is more than a bunch of vocabulary.

I’m Danish, and I have to correct the Danish idiom. “To have a stick in the ear” actually meals to be really drunk :) It’s probably originally a word play connected to the Danish word for “hangover”…

My favorite French phrase is “tenir la chandelle,” which means “to be a third wheel,” but which literally translates to “to hold the candle.”

I’m Danish, and I have to correct the Danish idiom. “To have a stick in the ear” actually meals to be really drunk :) It’s probably originally a word play connected to the Danish word for “hangover”…

These are really interesting. I used to think that idioms and other linguistic differences reveal how people think differently in other languages, but really, they’re examples of how people think in the same ways across different languages.

My French father-in-law always says to us “cats don’t breed dogs” which is very similar to the english idiom “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” It makes me giggle when he says it because it is always when our daughter has done something particularly spirited or funny.

Hilarious! Thanks for sharing these. I may just have to put a couple into circulation…
xoxo
The Accidental Mama
http://www.theaccidentalmama.com

My favourite Chinese idiom: “More saliva than tea” = someone who’s talkative (usually in the bad sense!)

Some funny Danish ones are:
There is no cow on the ice – everything is alright, nothing to worry about
You can’t blow and have flour in your mouth – you can’t have your cake and eat it
To step in the spinach (in Swedish it’s in the piano!) – to make a mistake, to really screw up

I think it’s so funny how you notice idioms in foreign languages rather than your mother tongue – they become more visible when you realize that a certain expression is not meant literally. My favorite (still in Danish) is “to have the need for a grandpa” which means to want to take a nap. It’s so cute – and spot on!

I love teaching this French one to my American friends:” Don’t push grandma in the ivy bush” (ne pousses pas mémé dans les orties) which means “Don’t push your boundaries haha

One of my favourites is “fill your boots”. It’s heard a lot in the Canadian Maritimes and means to help yourself or to go ahead.
Q:”May I have another cookie?”

A: “Fill yer boots!”