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Weird and wacky expressions

  Tags: Idiom | Multilingual
 Language Learning Forum : Multilingual Lounge Post Reply
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Bubblyworld
Newbie
South Africa
http:/
Joined 4300 days ago

7 posts - 11 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Xhosa, French, Japanese

 
 Message 81 of 88
23 March 2013 at 4:12am | IP Logged 
In Xhosa, "Kukho inyoka ayingeenyawo."
Literally, "There's a snake without feet."
Figuratively, it means that there is trouble on the horizon.
1 person has voted this message useful



Jinx
Triglot
Senior Member
Germany
reverbnation.co
Joined 5707 days ago

1085 posts - 1879 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, French
Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish

 
 Message 82 of 88
23 March 2013 at 3:00pm | IP Logged 
I think I already posted earlier in this thread about my love for Serbo-Croatian swearing. Since then I've found a new website with a great list of creative insults. Several of them are misspelled, which makes me a bit leery of the site, but they're lots of fun to read in any case. Definitely not for the faint of heart!

Here are a few of my favorites:

- "Gle kurtsa ti na biciklu" = "There goes your dick on a bicycle."
- "Da Bog da te majka u cevapu prepoznala." = "May your mother recognize you in a hamburger."
- "Jebem ti prvi red na sahrani" = "I f*** the whole front row at your funeral."
- "Da Bog da ti kuca bila na CNN-U" = "May your house be live on CNN (means: I hope NATO will bomb your house)."
- "Jebem ti majku na mrtvackom vozu za Sabac u pola noci u levo uvo u punom mjesecu." = "I f*** your mother in her left ear on a hearse going to Sabac at the midnight on the full moon."
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FELlX
Diglot
Groupie
France
Joined 4784 days ago

94 posts - 149 votes 
Speaks: French*, English

 
 Message 83 of 88
23 March 2013 at 4:55pm | IP Logged 
- "baiser comme un lapin", literally "screw like a rabbit" (have sex quickly),
- "fumer comme un pompier", literally "smoke like a fireman" (Equivalent: "smoke like a chimney"),
- "être muet comme une carpe", literally "be mute as a carp" (Equivalent: "be silent as a stone").

Edited by FELlX on 23 March 2013 at 4:56pm

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doubleUelle
Bilingual Tetraglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 4049 days ago

67 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: English*, Russian*, French, Japanese
Studies: Spanish, Thai

 
 Message 84 of 88
28 November 2013 at 7:32pm | IP Logged 
I don't know if this one has been mentioned yet (I browsed through the first few pages
of this thread but couldn't be bothered to go through all of it):

Japanese: 猫舌

Transliteration: neko-jita

Literal translation: "cat tongue", "[to be] cat-tongued"

Explanation: someone who hates/dislikes hot food and drinks. The expression comes from
the fact that cats' tongues are very sensitive to heat, and so they won't eat/drink hot
things.


I have to admit that this is an expression that has come in handy a lot for me, as
someone who absolutely cannot stand hot foot/drinks (I eat my soup and drink my coffee
cold, etc).
1 person has voted this message useful



Ibryam000
Diglot
Newbie
France
Joined 4679 days ago

37 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: French*, English
Studies: Bulgarian, Spanish

 
 Message 85 of 88
25 February 2014 at 11:07am | IP Logged 
FELlX, "baiser comme des lapins" actually means "have sex a lot". But yeah.

Edit: Sorry, did not see you wrote "comme un lapin", then it means "have sex
quickly" indeed.

Edited by Ibryam000 on 25 February 2014 at 11:11am

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DavidStyles
Octoglot
Pro Member
United Kingdom
Joined 3955 days ago

82 posts - 179 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, French, Portuguese, Norwegian
Studies: Mandarin, Russian, Swedish, Danish, Serbian, Arabic (Egyptian)
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 86 of 88
25 February 2014 at 11:55am | IP Logged 
Some French idioms of which I'm fond:

Tuer les mouches à quinze pas
(to kill flies at 15 paces)
[to have bad breath]

Manger son certificat de naissance
(to eat one's birth certificate)
[to die]

Enculer les mouches
(to sodomize flies)
[to be unnecessarily pedantic, à la "to split hairs"]

Être une allumeuse
(to be a match, as in the kind that's a little wooden stick with sulphur stuff on the end to start fires)
[to be a cocktease]

Edit to add, sometimes neither France nor England want to own something, and each blame it on the other:

Filer à l'anglaise
(To leave in the English way)
[to take French leave, to make a sudden departure]

Un capot anglais
(an English cap)
[a French letter, a condom]

Toast anglais
(English toast)
[French toast, a bread product]

Edited by DavidStyles on 25 February 2014 at 12:11pm

5 persons have voted this message useful



Mooby
Senior Member
Scotland
Joined 6119 days ago

707 posts - 1220 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 87 of 88
25 February 2014 at 3:54pm | IP Logged 
Some Polish ones on with a theme on gingerbread:


stary piernik lit. 'old gingerbread' = an old fogey (crusty old man)
dzidzia piernik lit. 'baby gingerbread' = an older woman dressing as if she's much younger. [Equiv. English phrase: 'Mutton dressed as Lamb']
co ma piernik do wiatraka?
lit. what has gingerbread to do with a windmill? = What's that got to do with it? Said in response to someone changing the topic of conversation for example.

Edited by Mooby on 25 February 2014 at 4:10pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Ibryam000
Diglot
Newbie
France
Joined 4679 days ago

37 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: French*, English
Studies: Bulgarian, Spanish

 
 Message 88 of 88
02 March 2014 at 10:45am | IP Logged 
Some french metaphorical expressions to say "to f**k" or "to have sex" that I like and find very funny (nowadays, you won't hear these often though):

- planter le javelot dans la moquette
- faire crapahuter le flemmard
- dire bonjour à sa moitié
- tirer sa chique
- dérouiller son braquemart
- empapaouter
- dégraisser son hareng saur
- battre le beurre
- tremper son biscuit
- frotter la couenne
- mettre la cheville dans le trou
- amener le petit au cirque
- remuer le gigot
- faire sprinter l'unijambiste
- chatouiller le nénuphar
...



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