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Weird and wacky expressions | ||
Tags: Idiom | Multilingual | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Multilingual Lounge |  | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6034 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes  5 sounds | Message 25 of 88 09 October 2009 at 5:14am | IP Logged | ||
Piss-farting around is my favourite :). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 00Banana Newbie South Africa Joined 5515 days ago 12 posts - 14 votes | Message 26 of 88 21 October 2009 at 7:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Portuguese:
« Agora é que a porca torce o rabo!» Translation: « Now's the time for Ms. Pig to twist her tail!» Or something to the effect of « facing the music». Always found this one a bit odd. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5766 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 27 of 88 22 October 2009 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof, from German, means "It is all Greek to me".
This expression is actually all Greek to me, as it literally means "I only understand train station". It does not even translate literally into coherent English, and it just seems bizzare to me. Anyone know where such a weird expression came from? Jack 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Belardur Octoglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5611 days ago 148 posts - 195 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC2, Spanish, Dutch, Latin, Ancient Greek, French, Lowland Scots Studies: Biblical Hebrew, Italian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Korean | Message 28 of 88 22 October 2009 at 5:00pm | IP Logged | ||
I've heard it's from the first German-French war of 1870-71, by soldiers expressing how much they wanted to go home (that is, as the train station was a symbol of the return, that is, that they only understood that they wanted to go home). edit: Wikipedia claims it's the First World War, I've also heard second, but I think the 70-71 is right Edited by Belardur on 22 October 2009 at 5:01pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5766 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 29 of 88 22 October 2009 at 6:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Wow, that's interesting and makes a lot of sense; thank you :]
Another expression I can think of which has the same meaning as "Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof" above, is the expression "Das sind mir bömische/spanische Dörfer" - that is all Bohemian/Spanish villages to me. Also one of my favourite visuals is the expression "dort, wo sich die Füchse gute Nacht sagen" - "where the foxes say good night to each other". It means something along the lines of "out in the middle of nowhere". Jack 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 magister Pro Member United States Joined 6603 days ago 346 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Turkish, Irish Personal Language Map | Message 30 of 88 22 October 2009 at 7:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Czech we also say "It is a Spanish village to me." Je to pro mě španělská vesnice.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Amoore Senior Member Denmark Joined 5770 days ago 177 posts - 218 votes Speaks: Danish* | Message 31 of 88 22 October 2009 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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Skoldet skid i et par lærredsbukser / Scalded shit/fart in a pair of canvas
trousers. Can be used like this: He is running around like a scalded shit/fart in a pair of canvas trousers. Or to have "rotating wind/fart in the cap" (roterende fis i kasketten) - someone crazy. You can also say someone belongs in af "the somersault factory" (kolbøttefabrikken) which refers to a mental institution. Edited by Amoore on 22 October 2009 at 7:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5967 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 32 of 88 22 October 2009 at 8:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I like the German expressions! I came across one the other day that was something like the equivalent of "raining cats and dogs" in English, and literally meant "raining pitchforks." I have it written down somewhere. And from what I saw of the rain over there, very accurate!
I once asked a Swiss-German friend to tell me the worst, the absolute worst, insult in his language. Not to use it; I was just curious and I've found I cannot pronounce anything in Swiss-German! He really didn't want to tell me, but gave in after I kept asking, and told me it was something the literally translates as "goose shit" in English. That's not nice but I can hardly believe it's the very worst put-down in the language! He also seriously confused me when he tried to congratulate me about something, and said: "Ah, I press you with both thumbs"! Baffled, I just stared and said, "Huh? What? Why?" and moved out of the way. "Do you mean to say 'two thumbs up'"? I asked.He insisted no, no, this is something that's said in Swiss-German. He was very much entertained to hear that his name "Guido" is an insult in my part of the world! In fact, last time I mailed a letter to him the postman saw the name and broke into laughter! Edited by meramarina on 22 October 2009 at 8:10pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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