Qinshi Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5767 days ago 115 posts - 183 votes Speaks: Vietnamese*, English Studies: French, Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 1 of 88 26 February 2009 at 2:14pm | IP Logged |
Do you know some rather bizarre expressions in a language? Post away! Don't forget to give the English translations both literal and actual meaning and if possible an equivalent.
I'll start!
Vietnamese is full of wacky expressions, none more wackier than:
Chết mẹ rồi!
Literally: Mother has died!
Actual: Damn it!
or
Chết mẹ mầy chưa?
Literally: Has your mother died yet?
Actual: I told you so!/You should've listened!/How d'ya like me now? Basically a response to a negative action that has happened to someone else.
8 persons have voted this message useful
|
Olekander Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5897 days ago 122 posts - 136 votes Speaks: English*, French, Russian
| Message 2 of 88 18 March 2009 at 9:29am | IP Logged |
LOl
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5780 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin
| Message 3 of 88 18 March 2009 at 12:11pm | IP Logged |
お前の母ちゃん出べそ
Omae no Kaachan debeso
Your mom's bellybutton sticks out.
I think that's about the best insult ever invented.
7 persons have voted this message useful
|
JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6136 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian
| Message 4 of 88 19 March 2009 at 9:22pm | IP Logged |
Not quite as bizarre as the preceding expressions but I read something today with these two French expressions:
French: La goutte d’eau qui fait déborder le vase
Literal Translation: The drop of water that made the vase overflow
English Equivalent: The straw that broke the camel's back
French: L’étincelle qui met le feu aux poudres
Literal Translation: The spark that set the powderkeg on fire
English Equivalent: The straw that broke the camel's back
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Olekander Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5897 days ago 122 posts - 136 votes Speaks: English*, French, Russian
| Message 5 of 88 19 March 2009 at 9:59pm | IP Logged |
*mum
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
GibberMeister Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Scotland Joined 5822 days ago 61 posts - 67 votes Speaks: Spanish, Catalan, Lowland Scots*, English*, Portuguese
| Message 6 of 88 25 March 2009 at 1:01pm | IP Logged |
For me it's some of the Spanish insults which are hilarious:
(not for the faint-hearted or easily offended I'm afraid)
¡Me cago en la leche! (annoyance/frsutration) 'I shit in the milk!'
¡Vete al pedo! literally 'Go to the fart!' meaning Get lost.
There is also a commonly used expression in Lowland Scots, more specifically the Glasgow area, which I've always found funny, and actually use in the appropriate company, of course.
When someone is giving a series of excuse beginning with 'If I'd had time, If I'd know, If it hadn't rained' etc.
A common retort / put down / speech-stopper is:
Aye, and if ma Auntie had baws she'd be ma uncle!
(Yes, and if my aunt had 'testicles' she'd be my uncle)
Edited by GibberMeister on 25 March 2009 at 1:02pm
3 persons have voted this message useful
|
Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6484 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese
| Message 7 of 88 01 April 2009 at 9:59pm | IP Logged |
Esperanto: Salaton!
Literal translation: Salad!
English equivalent: Hi!
This slang evolved because "Salaton" is almost the same as "Saluton" (Hello, greeting).
Edited by Sprachprofi on 01 April 2009 at 10:00pm
8 persons have voted this message useful
|
VonRemix Newbie United States Joined 5728 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Studies: English* Studies: Korean
| Message 8 of 88 03 April 2009 at 11:30am | IP Logged |
닥살커플.
Literal Translation: Chicken Skin Couple.
Means a couple who show too much public loveeee.
1 person has voted this message useful
|