Everyone can agree, especially non-native speakers, that the English language can get very tricky. Most of us know the feeling of being puzzled by the strange spelling rules and grammar of this language, but the truth is, every native language has its own peculiarities. So if you think that the funny idioms in English are bad enough, check out this hilarious Twitter thread of the weirdest phrases and their literal meanings.
Started by the Twitter user @jazz_inmypants who asked people to share their favorite non-English funny sayings, the thread was quickly filled with unexpected responses, most of them reminding us how strange some mother tongues are. Scroll below to read the idioms and their meanings.
More info: twitter.com
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"Bacon" is not really correct. "Speck" is the fatty part of bacon, therefore you can also refer to you belly fat as "Speck" instead of "Fett" (fat). Literal translation: grief fat
The real quote actually is "great minds think alike, though fools seldom differ"
It should be written "wurst" instead of "Wurst". The noun Wurst means Sausage but the adjective wurst means it doesn't matter. (In German all nouns start with an uppercase letter.)
There are a lot of funny descriptions for remote or unattractive places in germany. Such as "Da liegt der Hund begraben" (This is where the dog has been buried) or "Da willst du nicht tot überm Zaun hängen" (You don't want to hang dead over the fence)
Being Mexican I heard this a lot as a child. Trying to explain this to my non-Spanish speaking friends was really funny.
I usually say "Febo asoma", which would translate to something like "morning has broken" or something (febo is another name for the sun).
I'm just going to say "your goats have run to the mountain!"
Perkele, the legendary Finnish way of drinking! https://youtu.be/NAl9OyGYxOg
Endearment terms in French are pretty weird when you think about it. \1 mon petit chou /chouchou = my little cabbage /cabbage-cabbage (for both genders) 2\ ma puce = my flee (parents to their daughter or boyfriend to their girlfriend) \3 * mon lapin = my rabbit (I mostly hear older people call their grandchild like this) >> That's for the most common ones!
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in italy, instead of healthy as a horse, they say healthy as a fish. an american once mocked my paesana, saying that it was stupid to change it to a fish, and she looked dead at him and said "I don't know, there's an awful lot of sick/dying horse movies, but i've never seen a fish sneeze"
It's the same in Norwegian, because both words for "healthy" and "fish", rhymes: Frisk som en fisk.
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Two of my favorite German idioms are missing, both of which have no short English equivalent. One is "innerer Schweinehund" (lit. inner pig-dog), roughly meaning "the lazy part of oneself". Procrastinating, staying inside when it's raining, taking he car instead of walking... that's all the doing of your "inner pig-dog" :) The other one is "eierlegende Wollmilchsau" (lit. egg-laying wool milk sow), meaning something that a) does and has everything you want and b) doesn't exist (not sure if "unicorn" refers to quite the same).
I really like "Das ist ja zum Mäuse melken." - "That's as if you are trying to get milk from mice." meaning something is very difficult and frustrating.
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Phrase: "Som na vážkach." Language: Slovak English phrase: "I am unable to decide for myself." Literal: "I am on dragonflies."
in italy, instead of healthy as a horse, they say healthy as a fish. an american once mocked my paesana, saying that it was stupid to change it to a fish, and she looked dead at him and said "I don't know, there's an awful lot of sick/dying horse movies, but i've never seen a fish sneeze"
It's the same in Norwegian, because both words for "healthy" and "fish", rhymes: Frisk som en fisk.
Load More Replies... Two of my favorite German idioms are missing, both of which have no short English equivalent. One is "innerer Schweinehund" (lit. inner pig-dog), roughly meaning "the lazy part of oneself". Procrastinating, staying inside when it's raining, taking he car instead of walking... that's all the doing of your "inner pig-dog" :) The other one is "eierlegende Wollmilchsau" (lit. egg-laying wool milk sow), meaning something that a) does and has everything you want and b) doesn't exist (not sure if "unicorn" refers to quite the same).
I really like "Das ist ja zum Mäuse melken." - "That's as if you are trying to get milk from mice." meaning something is very difficult and frustrating.
Load More Replies... Phrase: "Som na vážkach." Language: Slovak English phrase: "I am unable to decide for myself." Literal: "I am on dragonflies."
