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Weird and wacky expressions

  Tags: Idiom | Multilingual
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88 messages over 11 pages: 1 2 35 6 7 ... 4 ... 10 11 Next >>
Sennin
Senior Member
Bulgaria
Joined 6047 days ago

1457 posts - 1759 votes 
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 Message 25 of 88
09 October 2009 at 5:14am | IP Logged 
Conspiratah wrote:
Some expressions in Australian English, rather crude, but normally pretty funny:

"I don't give a rat's arse!" - I don't care
"Piss-farting around" - Wasting time
"I don't wanna blow smoke up your arse." - I'm not trying to flatter you
"I don't wanna piss in your ear." - I don't want to rant/ramble on at you
"He's got a few sheep loose in the top paddock." He's not all there (mentally)
"Goin' off like a frog in a sock." - Another way of saying something's intense

If I think of any more I'll post them - there's so many!


Piss-farting around is my favourite :).
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00Banana
Newbie
South Africa
Joined 5528 days ago

12 posts - 14 votes

 
 Message 26 of 88
21 October 2009 at 7:02pm | IP Logged 
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. :)
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LanguageSponge
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5779 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 
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
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Belardur
Octoglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5624 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 
LanguageSponge wrote:
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


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

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LanguageSponge
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5779 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 
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
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magister
Pro Member
United States
Joined 6616 days ago

346 posts - 421 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Turkish, Irish
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 Message 30 of 88
22 October 2009 at 7:29pm | IP Logged 
In Czech we also say "It is a Spanish village to me." Je to pro mě španělská vesnice.
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Amoore
Senior Member
Denmark
Joined 5783 days ago

177 posts - 218 votes 
Speaks: Danish*

 
 Message 31 of 88
22 October 2009 at 7:50pm | IP Logged 
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

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meramarina
Diglot
Moderator
United States
Joined 5980 days ago

1341 posts - 2303 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: German, Italian, French
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 Message 32 of 88
22 October 2009 at 8:10pm | IP Logged 
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



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