In Finnish we have “kissanristiäiset” (literally means a cat’s christening), which means some trivial and meaningless celebration/event.
In Australia people who mean business say “I’m not here to fuck spiders.” I think that’s just wonderful.
In America we express suffering beyond words by saying we’re “living the dream”. And the Brits think we have an irony deficiency.
In France we’re not here to fuck flies
We don’t mind others’ onions
When someone is about to get late somewhere, we say « Tu vas te faire appeler Arthur » (literally « You’re gonna be called Arthur »)
This expression came during the German occupation, when soldiers would shout « Acht Uhr » (« eight hour ») to people during curfew. It sounds like « Arthur » in French.
Last one. « Faire le Jacques » (« acting like Jack ») means « playing dumb »
In Denmark we have a bunch of weird ones: When there isn’t a problem: “There is no cow on the ice”/ Der er ingen ko på isen
When you’re helping someone when it would be better they did it themselves you’re doing them “a bears favor” / en bjørnetjeneste
When you want it both ways but cant: “You want to blow with flour in your mouth” / blæse med mel i munden. This always made more sense to me than the english, you cant have your cake and eat it too.
When something is complete gibberish, it “sounds like volapyk” / lyder som volapyk. Volapyk is an actual made-up language like esperanto. incedentaly the same expression also exists in Esperanto
and i’m sure there is more
When you want it both ways but cant: “You want to blow with flour in your mouth”
Oh I like this one
In French we would say « You can’t have the butter and the butter’s money »
One usual extension of the expression is « You can’t have the butter, the butter’s money and the creamer’s butt »
When there’s no reason to hurry « y a pas le feu au lac » (« the lake isn’t on fire »)
This always made more sense to me than the english, you cant have your cake and eat it too.
I always had problems with that idiom in English, until someone pointed to me that it’s backwards just because it sounds better, it means “You can’t eat your cake and have it too”, i.e. if you eat the cake you don’t have it anymore, so you can’t both have and eat it at the same time.
This idiom confused me for the longest time, because I use “have” and “eat” very interchangeably. “Are you going to have dinner?” etc. I didn’t see that, rather, they meant “have” as a synonym for “keep”.
And yeah, it’s definitely backwards. “Have” doesn’t suggest “will have”, it’s a present term only. I have a cake, can I eat it? Yes. Switching the order makes more sense. Furthermore, I think “keep” at least suggests long term.
I propose “You can’t eat your cake and keep it too”
Yet still, who ever eats a whole cake? I definitely keep some for later.
I remember learning it as a semi-historical idiom, that nice white cakes and frostings could be expensive, so poor people would pay to have a pretty looking cake that’s mostly for show that’s like a prop or for a nice tasting cake that doesn’t look grand or large. Old guy could have been telling a tale though.
When something is complete gibberish, it “sounds like volapyk” / lyder som volapyk.
In Dutch we say “This might as well be Turkish”, if something makes no sense.
If I recall correctly, I Turkish they call complete gibberish “Chinese”, and Mandarin just straight skips to “ethereal writing”.
You can definitely see which one’s the more difficult language, here.
Danish is full of idioms. Some people can have entire conversations using only idioms.
Some of the peculiar ones with animals:
“There’s no cow on the ice” = it’s not urgent.
"The goat has been shaved " = the job is complete.
"A dog in a game of bowling " = someone that doesn’t fit in.
“The dog is buried there” = the problem is found there.
“The dog is buried there” = the problem is found there.
We’ve got the same in Germany. Probably carried over because we’re neighbours.
First thing that came to my mind was “Da wird doch der Hund in der Pfanne verrückt!” - “That makes the dog in the pan go mad!” You basically say it when you’re angry about something. Usually as part of a string of expletives as you charge up a long furious rant.
Wow, Danes don’t like dogs huh?
I would think they would think dogs were…great
I’ll see myself out
Swedish
I suspect there are owls in the bog (jag anar ugglor i mossen) means something is really fishy or suspicious.
Now you have really shit in the blue cupboard (nu har du verkligen skitit i det blå skåpet) means that you have done something that’s so far out of line or with such dire consequences that there is no return away from this. Kinda like a harder way of saying “now you’ve done it”.
To throw water on a goose (Slå vatten på en gås) means to say something that won’t be comprehended or taken seriously by the recipient at all, either because of stupidity or because they are too locked in their mindset.
Also the Swedish classic “glida in på en räkmacka” ((to) slide in on a shrimp sandwich), which basically means to end up somewhere (location, career, situation) without any difficulties. The shrimp sandwich symbolizes a life without difficulties or in some luxury.
Then there’s also “halka in på ett bananskal” ((to) slip in on a banana peel), which is similar to the above, but not always favorable and you don’t have any plan or preparation. You just winged it or it just happened by accident.
There’s a bunch of weird ones in Portuguese.
- “Caroço de manga não é sabonete” Do you think that mango seed is soap? = “this is an absurd proposal/situation/etc.”
- “Pobre só sobe na vida quando o barraco explode” Poor people only ascend on life when the [shit]shack explodes. = “don’t expect social ascension”
- “Enquanto vem com o milho, já comi a polenta.” While you’re bringing the corn, I already ate the polenta. = “I’ve already handled this, you’re too late.”
- “um polaco de cada colônia” a Pole from each settlement = a bunch of randomly picked people or items. I don’t think that people use this too much outside Paraná.
- “farinha do mesmo saco” flour from the same bag = extremely similar in some aspects that matter (and usually negative ones)
- “comer o pão que o diabo amassou” to eat the bread kneaded by the devil = to go through rough times
- “Vai chupar prego até virar tachinha!” Go suck an [iron] nail until it becomes a thumbtack! = somewhat polite way to tell someone to fuck off
- “Vai ver se estou na esquina.” *Go check if I’m around the corner." = also a way to tell people to fuck off
- “anta quadrada” squared tapir = “anta” tapir is used to call someone stupid, so anta quadrada is stupid to the power of two.
- “anta cúbica” cubed tapir = because some people do some really, really stupid shit.
- “mais louco que o Requião de pedalinho” crazier than Requião on a paddle boat = Requião is a politician here in Paraná known for his crazy antics. The phrase highlights that something is completely fucking crazy. Clearly local.
- “teu cu” your arse[hole] = definitively, clearly, and blatantly “no”.
Only a few of these - “comer o pão que o diabo amassou”, “vai ver se estou na esquina” - are used in Portugal, so they’re mostly used in Brasil.
The language hasn’t drifted all that much in between both countries during the last couple of hundred years but expressions seem to tend to be the first to drift away.
It also seems to me that expressions drift away faster than other aspects of the language. Perhaps due to their casual nature, or due to context. And they’re often extremely local, too - for example, I’ve heard nordestinos using “sacrifício de mundo” (lit. world sacrifice) to refer to difficult things, while folks here in Paraná practically never do it. While saying that something is “uma vaca no milharal” (a cow in the corn farm - wrecking everything with no regards or reason) usually outs the person as from a rural background.
For speakers from Portugal there’s an additional weird expression: pila is used here in Paraná as a completely innocent word for money, e.g. “dois pila” two bucks. (In PT I believe that it’s used as a slang for dick.)
You are correct on the pila thing, though it’s old fashioned and kinda children’s language.
Funilly enough and if I remember it correctly, a pila is a kind of throwable spear from the Roman times.
Small note, this is Brazilian Portuguese 🇧🇷 (PT-BR), not European Portuguese 🇵🇹 (PT-PT). I never heard most of these. We do have the “farinha do mesmo saco” and “comer o pão que o diabo amassou” though.
One important detail is that those country-based labels are at most abstractions or geographical terms. “Brazilian Portuguese” and “European Portuguese” aren’t actual, well-defined dialects; what people actually speak is local, in both sides. (e.g. “Paulistano Portuguese”, “Alentejano Portuguese”, “Estremenho Portuguese”, you get the idea.)
This is relevant here because I wouldn’t be surprised if plenty Brazilians never heard some of those. For example, “um polaco de cada colônia” only makes sense in Paraná, Polish immigration here was large enough to make some people call other immigrants “Poles”, even Germans and Italians. So the “Poles from each colony” are usually people/things that you might think that are related, but have zero to do with each other.
You’re not wrong but the way I see it it’s a hierarchical term.
Portuguese - all Portuguese based languages Brazilian Portuguese - all Portuguese dialects in Brazil European Portuguese - all Portuguese dialects in Portugal Angolan Portuguese - all Portuguese dialects in Angola and so on…
I’m not expecting everyone to know every expression under the sun, but those are CLEARLY Brazilian-Portuguese based so I thought it best to clear it up because people just say Portuguese most times and I feel that creates some confusion.
Haven’t seen some of these before. Ones I particularly like are:
- Tirar o cavalo da chuva: take your horse away from the rain = give up on something
- Lavar as mãos: wash (the) hands = do not involve yourself in something
Wash your hands of [something] is also in American English, although I think more typically used when you were already involved in something then removed yourself from the situation
Another Bible reference; this one refers to Roman governor Pontius Pilate washing his hands to indicate being done with the issue of Jesus’s execution.
I always said it as while you’re bringing the wheat I already ate the bread. But in my family we exaggerated it for effect: while you’re buying the wheat seed, I already shat the bread 😂
while you’re buying the wheat seed, I already shat the bread
Like, “enquanto você tá comprando o trigo, já caguei o pão”? That’s hilarious!
