# Funniest idioms in other languages (that don't translate) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879 "2010-06-20T16:21:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/61 "2010-06-25T18:40:15Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > There’s another Chinese one, “niu bi,” which is some pretty vulgar slang meaning that something is really awesome. It means “cow cunt.” I can’t figure that one out. How does cow cunt=awesome? > > Maybe they know something I don’t know… Please, please, please tell me it’s pronounced like newbie. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/62 "2010-06-25T21:40:16Z")
> [@Carl\_Corey](#): > > Please, please, please tell me it’s pronounced like newbie. close, but not really. More like “neeyo bee” ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/63 "2010-06-26T05:20:22Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Israeli idioms: > > **Go look for your friends** … because pal, you ain’t got any here. I want an audio file for this one. Because I don’t speak Hebrew, and that is an awesome insult. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/64 "2010-06-27T01:18:55Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > We have the same fable and the same expression in English: “who shall bell the cat?” It comes from Aesop’s fables (ancient Greek). “Belling the Cat”. Everyone who’s language Aesop has been translated into will have an idiom based on “Belling the Cat”, as well as [continue your Aesop from here]… ---
**Author:** ![SeaCanary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SeaCanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaCanary)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/65 "2010-06-27T01:30:51Z")
A friend serving with the Peace Corps in [Lesotho](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesotho) said the Sesotho phrase for a hard rain is “It’s raining old women with [knobkierries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knobkierrie).” More or less “It’s raining cats and dogs.” though the image of old women falling from the sky with the South African equivalent of shillelaghs makes me giggle. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/66 "2010-06-27T01:46:51Z")
\*\*matt\_mcl \*\*and **Hypnagogic Jerk** posted all of mine. ☹ Except, maybe: passer la nuit sur la corde à linge (spend the night on the clothesline): can mean to have had a bad night, or simply be in bad shape. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/67 "2010-06-27T02:05:16Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Related to one of **Pyper** ’s, Spanish is full of expressions relating sex or attraction to food. In Pe’s first movie, Bardem “eats her tits” (not literally!) saying “this one tastes like potato omelette… and this one, like ham”. A good-looking guy **está como un pan de kilo** (is like a big baguette, and no, it’s not a reference to his third leg), if you love someone a lot **te lo comerías a besos** (you’d eat them with kisses). Oral fixation anybody? That reminds me of more eating-related Spanish expressions: **Comer la cabeza**. Eat the head. To brainwash someone. **Comer la oreja.** Eat the ear. To talk someone’s ear off. Edited to add a funny story about how I learned the first expression. When I was attending university in Spain, there were quite a few students my age who were nuns. I asked my roommates about this phenomenon, and their explanation was that these girls had attended Catholic school in their elementary years and the nuns there had “eaten their heads.” I pretty much got the idea, but the image of zombie nuns has stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/68 "2010-06-28T07:09:25Z")
There is a charming book called “[In Other Words](http://www.amazon.com/Other-Words-C-J-Moore/dp/0802714447)” devoted to this phenomenon. Some of my favourites - “dil baagh baagh ho giya” from Urdu, for overwhelming joy; literally, “my heart became a garden”. And from German - “drachenfutter” - a gift like a box of chocolates husbands give to their irate wives if the husband has stayed out too late or otherwise behaved badly. It literally means “dragon-fodder”. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/69 "2010-06-28T08:14:51Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > And from German - “drachenfutter” - a gift like a box of chocolates husbands give to their irate wives if the husband has stayed out too late or otherwise behaved badly. It literally means “dragon-fodder”. I like that. It’s even fun to say. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/70 "2010-06-28T08:31:51Z")
I don’t know that this idiom is all that hilarious, but I’ve always liked “buah bibir” in Indonesian, which translates literally to “fruit of the lips.” It means “gossip.” Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some commas I need to go fuck. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/71 "2010-06-28T14:48:13Z")
**pelleteux de nuages** : an airy-headed idealist, a builder of castles in the air. Literally “cloud-shoveller.” ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/72 "2010-06-28T15:03:17Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Israeli idioms: > > **On my cock** - I don’t give a shit. > **Cock in the eye** - like hell. > **My cock is broken** - I’ve had enough. > > Non-cock related Israeli idioms: > > **Grabbed ass** - thought too much of himself. > **Show him where the fish pisses from** - show him what’s what. > **Go look for your friends** … because pal, you ain’t got any here. **It’s a waste of time** - it’s (actually) the bee’s knees. **Why, who died?** – You want me to do **what?!** (ETA – generally **not** sexual-activity related…) **Drive away, the keys are inside** – It’s completely FUBAR-ed (this one comes from an old skit from our best-known comedy group; it’s just one example of the Hebrew equivalent of Pythonese.) \*\*Kyla \*\*-- I think you’re mis-remembering a bit. “Lama? Kova!” (note the punctuation) – literally “Why? Hat!” – essentially means “Why? Because!” ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/73 "2010-06-29T00:18:23Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > \*\*Kyla \*\*-- I think you’re mis-remembering a bit. “Lama? Kova!” (note the punctuation) – literally “Why? Hat!” – essentially means “Why? Because!” ME? Misremember something? Unpossible! p.s. Thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/74 "2010-06-29T05:33:30Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > **It’s a waste of time** - it’s (actually) the bee’s knees. IMHO, \*\*It’s a waste of time \*\*(_Chaval al hazman_) has almost the exact same meaning as “Forget about it”, as explained by Johnny Depp [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf0ZyoUn7Vk). ---
**Author:** ![liverwort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@liverwort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liverwort)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/75 "2013-07-28T05:38:38Z")
A friend I met in California had lived with his parents who worked in Iran just before the revolution. He related to me an interesting insult translated from Farsi “May God fuck you” I thought this was a creative insult.😃 As close as I can remember the phonetic pronunciation was “Amunonkudom ahsoloshek” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/76 "2013-07-28T07:54:03Z")
IIRC from spending a year in then-Czechoslovakia, _ **Do prdele!** _ is used where native English speakers would normally say “Shit!” It translates literally as “Up to [your, my] ass!” (Presumably, we’re ass-deep in the shit.) I had one female coworker in Beneshov ask me _sotto voce_ if “Up to ass!” [_sic_] was proper English. In Russian, “Fuck you!” is _ **Poshol ty!** _ The closest literal translation I can offer is “Get yourself onto a prick!” though only the verb and pronoun are mentioned. I had another female coworker in Moscow ask me if she could say “Go to prick!” in English. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/77 "2013-07-28T15:49:31Z")
> [@SeaCanary](#): > > A friend serving with the Peace Corps in [Lesotho](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesotho) said the Sesotho phrase for a hard rain is “It’s raining old women with [knobkierries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knobkierrie).” More or less “It’s raining cats and dogs.” though the image of old women falling from the sky with the South African equivalent of shillelaghs makes me giggle. I know this post is three years old, but it’s the same idiom in Welsh: _Mae hi’n bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn_, “It’s raining old women with sticks.” Even more literally, “She’s throwing old women with sticks,” because “she [the weather] is throwing” is how you say it’s raining, snowing, etc. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/78 "2013-07-28T17:38:01Z")
In Russian, “not doing anything useful”, “jerking off” becomes “whacking pears with my prick.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/79 "2013-07-28T18:53:46Z")
In Russian, _ **zayebat** _ (literally, “to fuck beyond all limits”) means to make someone thoroughly sick and tired of something; _ **zayebatsya** _ is the same verb applied to oneself (“I’m sick and tired [of you].”) In _ **Moscow on the Hudson** _, when Robin Williams is complaining about his shoes not fitting, the KGB agent (who really was Russian) ad libbed _ **Menya zaebali vashi chertoviye botinki!** _ (“I’m fucking sick and tired of [hearing about] your goddamned shoes!”) ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/80 "2013-07-28T19:24:07Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Some Spanish ones, particular to Spain, as far as I know:… > **Como Manolo con la guitarra.** “Like Manolo with the guitar.” Always with someone/something. “She’s so obsessed with her new boyfriend. She’s like Manolo with the guitar.” Who’s Manolo? I have no idea. > … Old thread, but Manolo must be referring to [Manolo Sanlúcar](Manolo Sanlúcar) or Manolo Franco - both famous flamenco guitarists. Franco did some [instructional learn-to-play videos](https://www.flamenco-world.com/tienda/shop.php?PHPSESSID=c311c432f2fe3354d922ad0c121cded9&vshopferca=c311c432f2fe3354d922ad0c121cded9&op_shop=show&id_prod=5097&id_lang=2) that would put him in the similar league with [Bob Ross](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Bob+Ross&oq=Bob+Ross&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.282533.284092.0.284882.8.7.0.1.1.1.371.1236.0j5j1j1.7.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.prpNw0VqiC0) teaching [painting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ross). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879.md?page=5)