It’s such a good expression. The word tilin is meant to evoke a ringing bell, which is also awesome.
This one doesn’t work. Pigs do not already have an abundance of lipstick.
“Selling coals to Newcastle” implies futility more than abundance. The idea is that it wouldn’t happen for various reasons. The expression works, though perhaps not for fans of The Muppets.
I have no examples to satisfy your OP, but it is interesting to note the evolution of the phrase “butter wouldn’t melt in your/his/her mouth.”
“Originally, around 1530, the phrase was far less obscure than it may seem today, because when it first started being used, it was directly related to a person having a cold, detached and emotionless manner (where “cold” used in this way is an older metaphor itself). The idea was that a person was so cold that his mouth was at a temperature at which butter wouldn’t melt.”
Irregardless of the original intent, which I could care less about, though it does peak my interest somewhat: over the years the phrase evolved into meanings that really don’t make much sense. It’s time to nip this phrase in the butt.
http://www.saywhydoi.com/why-do-we-say-butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-his-mouth/
What I meant to convey was that kitty was cool and nonchalant about having upset plans to go to the doctor. So, yeah, I was using it according to your citation.
BTW,
It’s “pique” – Stimulate (interest or curiosity), “You have piqued my curiosity about the man.”
“Non mi rompere le scatole” = “don’t break my boxes” in Italian, more polite version of the English “don’t bust my balls.” Though we heard the English phrase used by Italians while in Italy as well, lol.
Indeed “peak my interest” is incorrect, as is “irregardless” and “nip in the butt.”
Humor doesn’t always hit the mark.
Oh. You were being funny. Sorry. I missed it.
Some 50 years ago I bought a Spanish–English dictionary published in Europe. It translated “carry coals to Newcastle” as llevar naranjas a Valencia (carry oranges to Valencia [the part of Spain that grows the best oranges]).
In the UK you could say (maybe someone has) “All jingle, no 99”.
This morning I thought of the sayings, “I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night,” or “I didn’t fall off the potato wagon/turnip truck yesterday.”
Meaning I’m not stupid or naive. I’m not about to fall for a scam, etc. Are there expressions/sayings in other languages that convey that meaning?
Yes, there is in (Southern) German: “Ich bin kein heuriger Hase”, literally meaning “I’m not a hare from this season” and in an English idiom “I wasn’t born yesterday”.
French speakers also say “I wasn’t born yesterday” (je ne suis pas né d’hier). They’ve got at least two more expressions that mean much the same thing:
je ne suis pas né de la dernière pluie - “I wasn’t born during the last rain”
je ne suis pas un perdreau de l’année - not sure how to put it … “I’m not this year’s partridge”? “I’m not a year-old partridge”? Reminds me of the “this season’s hare” EinsteinsHund just posted.
Nevermind, misread the quote.
Lately I’ve heard both “it’s my jam” and “not my jam”. Decades ago you could say “not my bag, man.”
English “Now the cat’s out of the bag” is pretty much synonymous with Dutch “Nu komt de aap uit de mouw”, literally “Now the monkey comes out of the sleeve”.
English: “To shout [something] from the rooftops”
Dutch: “[Iets] aan de grote klok hangen”, literally “To hang [something] on the town clock”
English: “forlorn hope”, a doomed effort, suicide mission.
Dutch: “verloren hoop”, literally “lost heap” or “lost group”, applied to a selected band of soldiers attempting a very dangerous action that they will probably not survive. The source of the homophonous hobson-jobsoned English idiom.
That’s interesting, the German idiom “die Katze aus dem Sack lassen” (to let the cat out of the bag) is more equivalent to the English “to spill the beans”.
“Spill the beans” and “let the cat out of the bag” are equivalent to me.
Is “spill the tea” a Britishism? I do hear Americans say it from time to time.
Apparently, “spilling tea” means “gossiping”, and “sipping tea” means “listening to gossip”, but I only know that because of crossword-puzzle clues.
Whoa! New term learned today. 