30 People Share Their Favorite Non-English Phrases And Their Literal Meanings

More fun ones (yes I am fully fluent in Afrikaans, being a Bil-lingual South African): "Jy is besig om 'n kort stok in die hol van 'n groot leeu te druk" Means: Back off/ Watch out/ Watch your step "You're busy poking the A-hole of a big lion with a short stick" "Jy gaan kak" You're literally in huge trouble/You're going to get hurt. Usually as a warning to anther person "Your going to poop (yourself)" "So Skeef soos 'n sewe-rand noot" They're gay. "Skeef" = skew = slang for gay "as skew as a 7 Rand note" there are no 7 Rand banknotes" usually only used in a social environment when someone is asking, and you're actually friends with the person that is gay. "So skeef soos pienk gras" They're gay. "As skew as pink grass"

Depends on if they're itchy

Bet he's not too thrilled..

Tarzan only wears a loin cloth (a piece of leather protecting the dangly bits, more like a skirt than underwear). So Tarzans tailor is really taking its time to make something for Tarzan to wear...

@Mira Maier: dict.cc says Speck translates to bacon. BUT! When talking about a living being, not just a piece of meat, Speck (bacon) and Fett (fat) are equivalent. So in this context, calling it grief fat is indeed a better translation - it's the non-muscle weight you gain from overeating.

May be 'lard'? It is less general.

True, but in the same way, a lightbulb is just the glass over the wires. Not to mention the fact that fat is the best part of bacon, and basically IS the bacon! But you are correct, technically

in afrikaans which is a language that derived from Dutch settlers in south africa, spek is bacon :)

Grief bacon is funnier tho'.

Send me one??!!

"“Great minds think alike.” The extended phrase: “Great minds think alike, though fools seldom differ.” When two friends have the same idea, one (or both) of them is likely to pipe up with the common version of the phrase. Next time, you can retort with this extended version — the etymology of which is mostly unknown — to put them back into their place: It’s foolish people, not great minds, that are more likely to have the same banal thoughts all the time." from: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/7-common-sayings-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean-245885

Yes! My dad used to say this all the time.

Ohhhh thanks for the completion. I've always heard/used the first part but have never heard the second. Thats pretty great...

so even the german language is more efficient than english? why waste words

I knew there was more to that saying

So Luisa got it terribly wrong

Right? I care more about cats than about people :'D

Funny, we say 'twee man en een paardenkop', meaning 'two men and a horse's head'

I was about to post the same one :-D We also say "Er is geen kip" or "Er is geen hond" (there is no chicken / there is no dog)

In Castilian Spanish is said too

I've heard that also in Mexico, and sometimes using "pelados" (bald people xD) instead of cats. Weird, but fun to say!

i just did-WOW

given that it's bigger on the inside... and just how much junk a time lord accumulates over the ages... and that the TARDIS apparently identifies as female... Its just the TARDIS' way of Kondo'ing all the cruft.

I read this while eating cherries lol.

In Dutch we have "het is slecht kersen eten met hoge heren." which means "Eating cherries with important people won't be easy." And it means that negotiations with powerfull people will always end in you holding the short end of the stick.