# Linguistically independent aphoristic equivalencies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679 "2005-11-18T18:53:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/1 "2005-11-18T18:53:47Z")
Or, “it’s raining cats and dogs” around the world. We all know the almost-certainly apocryphal story about the translation machine that rendered the English expression “out of sight, out of mind” into some other language (Chinese or Russian, typically) and back to English, producing an amusingly non-equivalent but recognizably congruent phrase like “invisible madman” or “blind idiot.” I would presume, however, that had this hypothetical computer been given a database of epigrams and adages, it would have been able to produce a colloquial Chinese (or Russian) phrase encapsulating the idea, “If you can’t see something, you probably aren’t thinking about it.” It’s not an uncommon notion, and it makes sense that other languages would have their own versions of it, epigrammatic counterparts if not precise syntactic matches. My question: I’m curious about aphorisms that straddle languages, and language families, expressing similar ideas. I’m especially interested in aphorisms that use similar words to express a thought, and that can be translated more or less directly from one language to another and still mean the same thing. For example, while I’m just speculating and haven’t actually looked into this, I’d be surprised if the standard response to a difficult question, “that’s a long story,” weren’t approximately the same in many languages, as a means of communicating, in shorthand, a rather ambiguous bundle of thoughts: I can answer your question, but it will be lengthy and complicated for a variety of reasons, and you may or may not be satisfied with it, but I’m not exactly brushing you off, because I’m willing to give you the explanation, and I might even enjoy telling the story, but I want to make sure you accept this caveat and don’t either cut me off before I’m finished or complain too much about it afterward if you decide you don’t like it and would have preferred a simpler answer, which I am not able to give. (My curiosity comes out of an episode of “Rome” a few weeks ago, wherein I would swear one character said to another “I’ll show you the onions” as the equivalent of “I’ll show you the ropes,” i.e. I’ll demonstrate to you how the thing is to be done. I asked about it in the specific episode thread, but got no joy. So it’s been on my mind.) In short: How common are colloquialisms that can be translated more or less as-is from language to language, and are there any that are more common than others? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/2 "2005-11-18T18:59:13Z")
The English phrase “wet behind the ears” can be literally translated into Dutch without losing its meaning. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/3 "2005-11-18T19:02:49Z")
My experience with Spanish is that about half the common aphorisms are roughly word-for-word parallels to their English equivalents (example: “kill two birds with one stone” =\* “matar dos pajaros con un solo tiro”, \* literally “kill two birds with only one shot/throw”), whereas the other half express the same idea in an entirely different way (example: “if you snooze, you lose” = _“el camaron que se duerme, se lo lleva el corriente”_, literally “the shrimp that falls asleeps is taken away by the current”). Since Spanish and English have had contact for centuries, I assume that this approximate 50% rate (anectdotal – I could be way off) would not hold true for languages that have had less contact. Let’s see if, as this thread develops, we find that there are a few aphorisms which are expressed similarly in many less-related languages. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/4 "2005-11-18T20:16:14Z")
A friend in grad school once pointed out that many languages equivalent to the English “so-so” (“How are you doing?” “So-so”) are reduplicative. The French, for instance is “Comme si, comme ca”; the Greek is “Etzky-ketzky.” He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/5 "2005-11-18T20:18:42Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > A friend in grad school once pointed out that many languages equivalent to the English “so-so” (“How are you doing?” “So-so”) are reduplicative. The French, for instance is “Comme si, comme ca”; the Greek is “Etzky-ketzky.” He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples. Japanese = “maa-maa” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/6 "2005-11-18T20:42:39Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > A friend in grad school once pointed out that many languages equivalent to the English “so-so” (“How are you doing?” “So-so”) are reduplicative. The French, for instance is “Comme si, comme ca”; the Greek is “Etzky-ketzky.” He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples. Too cool! ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/7 "2005-11-18T20:46:42Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples. Spanish: _asi asi_ ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/8 "2005-11-18T20:59:41Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > My experience with Spanish is that about half the common aphorisms are roughly word-for-word parallels to their English equivalents (example: “kill two birds with one stone” =\* “matar dos pajaros con un solo tiro”, \* literally “kill two birds with only one shot/throw”) … French has many of these as well: All’s well that ends well = _Tout est bien qui finit bien_ Better late than never = _Mieux vaut tard que jamais_ Love me, love my dog = _Qui m’aime, aime mon chien_ Nothing ventured, nothing gained = _Qui ne risque rien n’a rien_ Time is money = _Le temps, c’est de l’argent_ Strike while the iron’s hot = _Battre le fer pendant qu’il est chaud_ The walls have ears = _Les murs ont des oreilles_ Where there’s smoke, there’s fire = _Il n’y a pas de fumée sans feu_ Can’t make an omellette without breaking eggs = _On ne fait pas d’omelette sans casser des oeufs_ He who laughs last, laughs best = _Rira bien qui rira le dernier_ ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/9 "2005-11-18T21:24:03Z")
From [_A Book of English and Russian Proverbs and Sayings_](http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/literature/russian-proverbs.html) by M. Dubrovin – the following expressions parse more or less cleanly into Russian (sorry, no Russian translations): All roads lead to Rome All is well that ends well All that glitters isn’t gold You made your bed – lie in it Better late than never Take the bull by the horns Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/10 "2005-11-18T21:44:48Z")
Here’s some from Italian, many from Wikipedia’s entry for Italian proverbs: Choose the lesser of two evils = _Fra il due mali scegli il minore_ When the cat’s away, the mice will play = \*Quando il gatto manca, i topi ballano \* (lit. _… the mice will dance_) To kill two birds with one stone = \*Prendere due piccione con una fava \* (lit. _… with one bean_) A new broom sweeps clean = \*Scopa nuova scopa bene \* (lit. _… sweeps well_) Seek and ye shall find = _Chi cerca trova_ Nothing new under the sun = _Nulla è nuovo sotto il sole_ Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth = _A caval donato non si guarda in bocca_ In a world of blind people, a one-eyed man is king = _In un mondo di ciechi un orbo è re_ Better late than never = _Meglio tardi che mai_ No news is good news = _Nessuna nuova, buona nuova_ He who laughs last laughs best = _Ride bene chi ride ultimo_ All roads lead to Rome = _Tutte le strade portano a Roma_ … This last one is Sicilian. I include it because I wonder if it is the ultimate source of the expression “Avoid X like the plague”: Friend who won’t give, relatives who won’t lend you a hand, avoid them like the plague = _Amicu ca non ti duna, parendi ca non ti mpresta, fuili comu la pesta_ (Sicilian) ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/11 "2005-11-18T21:49:20Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > A friend in grad school once pointed out that many languages equivalent to the English “so-so” (“How are you doing?” “So-so”) are reduplicative. The French, for instance is “Comme si, comme ca”; the Greek is “Etzky-ketzky.” He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples. Indonesian: “baik-baik”. The Arabic “shway shway” is kinda similar, means “a little”, “not much”. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/12 "2005-11-18T22:16:34Z")
> [@Atticus Finch](#): > > Indonesian: “baik-baik”. The Arabic “shway shway” is kinda similar, means “a little”, “not much”. Italian- metza-metza (although the spelling may be wrong) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linguistically-independent-aphoristic-equivalencies/331679/13 "2005-11-18T22:21:40Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Italian- metza-metza (although the spelling may be wrong) _Mezzo-mezzo_, I believe.