# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/81 "2013-07-28T19:50:42Z")
Italian one I like: un attaccabottone. A button-sticker, that is, a boring person that you can’t get rid of. Dutch: It’s like hitting a pig with tongs. (Dat slaat als een tang op een varken.) This one is impossible to translate right because it’s sort of a semi-pun in Dutch, but it means: "what you’re saying is totally irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/82 "2013-07-28T20:00:05Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > Old thread, but Manolo must be referring to [Manolo Sanlúcar](Manolo Sanlúcar) or Manolo Franco - both famous flamenco guitarists. Or to a Manolo who never became famous but whose neighbors were about to drop him off a bridge to get rid of him and his damned guitar… idioms are born locally and IME the people who pick them up don’t need to understand the background fully. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/83 "2013-07-28T20:01:57Z")
Oh, just saw the thread is old, but oh well. Another Dutch one. I think it’s not that common in The Netherlands either, but my dad always uses “he’s playing for the cat’s bollocks” (de kat z’n kloten) to mean he’s a losing player in a game that’s been already decided. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/84 "2013-07-29T07:15:18Z")
From the Dominican Rep.: “Ni lava ni presta la batea” = “Neither washes nor lends the washing bowl”, meaning somebody that just gets in the way. “Las palmas son más altas, y los puercos comen de ella” = “Palm trees are higher and pigs feed from them”, said to our about a person - usually a woman - that values herself too highly. “Fue a ver si la puerca puso” = “Left to see if the pig laid an egg”, meaning “left me alone”. Sometimes parents would send a child to go ask someone ‘if the pig laid an egg’, as code for the recipient of the message to keep the child entertained and away from the sender of the message. “Lambe ojo” = “Eye licker” = ass kisser. “Estar en la olla” = “To be in the cooking pot” meaning being broke. “Firmó con los Carmelitas” = “Signed by Red Sox” = died. “Estiró la pata” = “Stretched his/her leg” = died “Colgar los tenis” = “To hang the sneakers” = To die. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/85 "2013-07-29T07:43:21Z")
“Caen burriquitos aparejados” and “llueven sapos y ranas” (“Little saddled donkeys falling” and “raining frogs and toads” = raining cats and dogs. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/86 "2013-07-29T10:00:40Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > From the Dominican Rep.: > > “Ni lava ni presta la batea” = “Neither washes nor lends the washing bowl”, meaning somebody that just gets in the way. Spain’s version for that is _el perro del hortelano_. The complete expression is _es como el perro del hortelano, que ni come ni deja comer_: (s)he’s like the veggie farmer’s dog, who neither eats (the veggies) nor lets others eat. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/87 "2013-07-29T18:29:13Z")
One that I once read; a slang expression in Mexican Spanish, said by members of either sex: _“Estoy muy bruja”_: literally, “I am a very witch” – actual meaning, “I’m broke”. Can anyone confirm? I hope this is for real: it sounds most wonderfully bonkers. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/88 "2013-07-29T19:15:01Z")
A couple from Yiddish: “Hub dir in drerd”. Lit. “Have you underground”, i.e. Drop dead. And one of the odder ones: “Hock mir nit k’n chinik” (which in German would be somethink like: “Hack mir nicht kein Chinick”. Lit. Bang me not on the teapot. It means something like, “Stop bugging me”. Can anyone who actually speaks Yiddish tell me what “Folg mir a gong” actually means. Even literally I don’t follow it. Follow me a(?) going. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/89 "2013-07-30T12:50:48Z")
One from Spanish: _llevar_ (or _traer_)\* a alguien por la calle de la amargura\*. Literally, “to make someone walk down Bitterness Street”. To drive someone crazy with worry about the behavior of the “driver”. Your son who never does his homework and claims not to have any; your parent whose calls fill you with dread; your coworker who always comes to “just ask a question” at the most inappropriate moment, drive you down bitterness street. Wordreference confirms the Mexican idiom. With several variants, but yeah, they all come down to “I’m very witch” = “I’m totally broke”. Other Spanish idioms with the same meaning are _estar a la cuarta pregunta_ (“to be in the fourth question”), because the fourth question in police procedurals used to be “profession/source of income?” and _estar a dos velas_ (“to be in (the light of) two candles”); depending on who you ask this is because if you try to light a decent sized room with just two candles you’ll barely be able to avoid bumping into furniture, or a reference to, ehm, how to say this in English… threads of mucus coming down someone’s nose (there is an accompanying gesture for the expression which consists of sliding two fingers of one hand down one’s nose); not just goobers but when they look like the tracks of wax down a candle. In this second interpretation if all you have is two candles you’re not just broke, you’re so fucked up and so tired you can’t even bother with wiping your nose. ---
**Author:** ![Batistuta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58956e/32.png) [@Batistuta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batistuta)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/90 "2013-07-30T15:01:33Z")
A couple of hard-to-translate ones in Catalan. At least in the ugly Catalan dialect spoken in my native region: _Estar pel mon_, roughly translates as “to be on the planet”. That’s what you do when you leave the comfort of your own home and go to the city centre to buy some stuff or do some paperwork. The typical situation would be that someone calls you to ask where you are, and you answer that you’re “on the planet”. _Fer diumenge_, to “do a Sunday” or perhaps just “to Sunday”. This is what you do when you stay at home and do something productive, like mowing the lawn, cleaning the toilet or fixing the sink. It is assumed that these things are done on Sundays, so the name of the day has almost become a verb by now. (I think that these two idioms say a lot about the mentality of Mediterranean folk. Being productive is so uncommon that we use idioms to speak about our productive moments. Of course, nothing beats doing nothing when it’s hot outside) ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/91 "2013-07-30T15:17:04Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > In Russian, “not doing anything useful”, “jerking off” becomes “whacking pears with my prick.” After that, one would have come in despair. > [@terentii](#): > > 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. Sounds like they were hitting on you. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/92 "2013-07-30T16:00:20Z")
> [@Batistuta](#): > > A couple of hard-to-translate ones in Catalan. At least in the ugly Catalan dialect spoken in my native region: > > _Estar pel mon_, roughly translates as “to be on the planet”. That’s what you do when you leave the comfort of your own home and go to the city centre to buy some stuff or do some paperwork. The typical situation would be that someone calls you to ask where you are, and you answer that you’re “on the planet”. That one is linked to speaking of “business of the world” vs “business of the soul”. It’s got religious roots. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879/93 "2013-07-30T17:21:59Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Wordreference confirms the Mexican idiom. With several variants, but yeah, they all come down to “I’m very witch” = “I’m totally broke”. Other Spanish idioms with the same meaning are _estar a la cuarta pregunta_ (“to be in the fourth question”), because the fourth question in police procedurals used to be “profession/source of income?” and _estar a dos velas_ (“to be in (the light of) two candles”); depending on who you ask this is because if you try to light a decent sized room with just two candles you’ll barely be able to avoid bumping into furniture, or a reference to, ehm, how to say this in English… threads of mucus coming down someone’s nose (there is an accompanying gesture for the expression which consists of sliding two fingers of one hand down one’s nose); not just goobers but when they look like the tracks of wax down a candle. In this second interpretation if all you have is two candles you’re not just broke, you’re so fucked up and so tired you can’t even bother with wiping your nose. Thanks – glad for the reassurance that I didn’t dream it. The world being, regrettably, the way it is, there’s no doubt about there being innumerable idioms in innumerable languages about people being highly broke / fucked-up / tired… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-idioms-in-other-languages-that-dont-translate/543879.md?page=4)