cancel2 2022
Canceled
1. Stop ironing my head! (Armenian and Turkish)
A phrase used on nagging wives, or anyone else who keeps pestering you. As in: "what do you want!? Stop ironing my head!"
2. Are you still riding that goat? (Cheyenne)
A charming way of asking: 'are you still with the same partner?' Evidently, the Cheyenne are a very respectful people.
3. What would a monkey know about the taste of ginger? (Hindi)
An insulting phrase used to discredit someone else's opinion by suggesting they know nothing about the subject at hand. E.g: "I don't like your new bag"/"Ha! What would a monkey know about the taste of ginger?"
4. Don't walk around the hot porridge! (Czech and Finnish)
Roughly equivalent to 'don't beat around the bush', this phrase encourages the person it's aimed at to get to the hot topic, which in Finnland and the Czech Republic is usually, apparently, porridge. Norway has a similar phrase, but adds a cat in, if that helps: "don't walk around the hot porridge like a cat".
5. Work is not a wolf; it won't run off into the woods. (Ukrainian)
I.e. you can always return to a piece of work later on. This one's a little wordy, but pretty cool.
6. The turtle is shrouded. (Cheyenne)
Just means that it's foggy out. I don't know where the turtle comes in.
7. I'm sweating carrots! (Dutch)
Literally means "I'm sweating very heavily". Sweating carrots though... There's a mental image for you.
8. Are we breathing through the same nostril? (Chinese)
Well how the hell did they come up with this? It's pretty much the same as 'are we on the same page?', but man... The Chinese definitely picked the better one.
9. My tapeworm can almost talk by itself. (Cheyenne)
Another one from those mischevious Cheyenne, this phrase implies that you are very hungry, and excuses your stomach growling. E.g. "Sorry, I'm so hungry that my tapeworm can almost talk by itself." Gross.
10. He's polar-bearing. (Dutch)
A Dutch phrase for pacing up and down. Do polar bears do that? Probably only in zoos when their cages are a bit too small. Then again, to my knowledge, polar bears would only be found in Holland's zoos anyway, so maybe that's why.
11. I have other cats to whip. (French)
I.e. I have other things to do. Have you noticed that many of these idioms tell you a lot about the countries that use them? Well, apparently in France, whipping cats is encouraged. Mental.
12. He's shitting embers. (Hindi)
Means: "he's extremely angry."
13. She's like a jackdaw among peacocks. (Irish)
This Irish phrase means roughly the same thing as 'like a fish out of water', but with the added bonus of being slightly insulting to the person you're talking about.
14. You have ham around your eyes/ears. (Italian)
I.e. 'you're not seeing/hearing clearly'. This is definitely a phrase we could make use of in English.
15. A drifting boat with the bark peeling off. (Kashmiri)
In Kashmir, if something is decribed as 'a drifting boat with the bark peeling off', then it has become run-down, and gone to the dogs. Weirdly specific, isn't it?
16. Even monkeys fall from trees. (Japanese)
'Even the experts slip up sometimes'. Interestingly, the monkey is generally lauded for its intelligence in Asia, whereas we in the west tend to see it as a symbol of stupidity. This may be because monkeys are not native here, and so when we first came across them we saw them as stupid humans rather than bright animals.
17. It's a carrot! (Korean)
'It's simple!' Why do the Koreans see the carrot as such a simple vegetable? I don't know. But, in Korea, if something is called a carrot, it means that it is very simple.
18. I'm eating the head. (Spanish)
A very, very strange thing to say, this Spanish phrase means: "I'm thinking." Whose head you would be eating as you think is a gruesome mystery.
19. My cottage is at the edge. (Ukrainian)
Means: 'I am only slightly involved'. If your cottage was in the centre, you'd be making a fuss - but since it's only on the edge, you don't give that much of a shit.
A phrase used on nagging wives, or anyone else who keeps pestering you. As in: "what do you want!? Stop ironing my head!"
2. Are you still riding that goat? (Cheyenne)
A charming way of asking: 'are you still with the same partner?' Evidently, the Cheyenne are a very respectful people.
3. What would a monkey know about the taste of ginger? (Hindi)
An insulting phrase used to discredit someone else's opinion by suggesting they know nothing about the subject at hand. E.g: "I don't like your new bag"/"Ha! What would a monkey know about the taste of ginger?"
4. Don't walk around the hot porridge! (Czech and Finnish)
Roughly equivalent to 'don't beat around the bush', this phrase encourages the person it's aimed at to get to the hot topic, which in Finnland and the Czech Republic is usually, apparently, porridge. Norway has a similar phrase, but adds a cat in, if that helps: "don't walk around the hot porridge like a cat".
5. Work is not a wolf; it won't run off into the woods. (Ukrainian)
I.e. you can always return to a piece of work later on. This one's a little wordy, but pretty cool.
6. The turtle is shrouded. (Cheyenne)
Just means that it's foggy out. I don't know where the turtle comes in.
7. I'm sweating carrots! (Dutch)
Literally means "I'm sweating very heavily". Sweating carrots though... There's a mental image for you.
8. Are we breathing through the same nostril? (Chinese)
Well how the hell did they come up with this? It's pretty much the same as 'are we on the same page?', but man... The Chinese definitely picked the better one.
9. My tapeworm can almost talk by itself. (Cheyenne)
Another one from those mischevious Cheyenne, this phrase implies that you are very hungry, and excuses your stomach growling. E.g. "Sorry, I'm so hungry that my tapeworm can almost talk by itself." Gross.
10. He's polar-bearing. (Dutch)
A Dutch phrase for pacing up and down. Do polar bears do that? Probably only in zoos when their cages are a bit too small. Then again, to my knowledge, polar bears would only be found in Holland's zoos anyway, so maybe that's why.
11. I have other cats to whip. (French)
I.e. I have other things to do. Have you noticed that many of these idioms tell you a lot about the countries that use them? Well, apparently in France, whipping cats is encouraged. Mental.
12. He's shitting embers. (Hindi)
Means: "he's extremely angry."
13. She's like a jackdaw among peacocks. (Irish)
This Irish phrase means roughly the same thing as 'like a fish out of water', but with the added bonus of being slightly insulting to the person you're talking about.
14. You have ham around your eyes/ears. (Italian)
I.e. 'you're not seeing/hearing clearly'. This is definitely a phrase we could make use of in English.
15. A drifting boat with the bark peeling off. (Kashmiri)
In Kashmir, if something is decribed as 'a drifting boat with the bark peeling off', then it has become run-down, and gone to the dogs. Weirdly specific, isn't it?
16. Even monkeys fall from trees. (Japanese)
'Even the experts slip up sometimes'. Interestingly, the monkey is generally lauded for its intelligence in Asia, whereas we in the west tend to see it as a symbol of stupidity. This may be because monkeys are not native here, and so when we first came across them we saw them as stupid humans rather than bright animals.
17. It's a carrot! (Korean)
'It's simple!' Why do the Koreans see the carrot as such a simple vegetable? I don't know. But, in Korea, if something is called a carrot, it means that it is very simple.
18. I'm eating the head. (Spanish)
A very, very strange thing to say, this Spanish phrase means: "I'm thinking." Whose head you would be eating as you think is a gruesome mystery.
19. My cottage is at the edge. (Ukrainian)
Means: 'I am only slightly involved'. If your cottage was in the centre, you'd be making a fuss - but since it's only on the edge, you don't give that much of a shit.
