# Words/phrases/idioms which don't exist in the putative language **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-phrases-idioms-which-dont-exist-in-the-putative-language/411576 "2007-07-13T00:58:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-phrases-idioms-which-dont-exist-in-the-putative-language/411576/21 "2007-07-13T18:10:56Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] I’ve never been to the UK, but I’ve always presumed that a) Most Brits don’t start a conversation by saying, “I say. . . .” b) Most Brits don’t say 'Pip, Pip, Cheerio!" when departing your company. [/QUOTE] I was surprised when a London camera store clerk said “cheerio!” as I was about to leave (no “pip, pip,” though). ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-phrases-idioms-which-dont-exist-in-the-putative-language/411576/22 "2007-07-13T18:36:33Z")
[QUOTE=tschild] An example from German would be **stein** (which means “stone” or “rock” in German). [/QUOTE] I’m not sure what you mean here. Stein, used in English, I’ve only heard in names (usually to sound stereotypically Jewish - stereotypical non-Jewish German names usually get a ‘von’ or ‘mann’ in there.), or as a kind of beer mug, which is called a stein, in English. I’ve never seen it in the same sense as ‘sacre bleu’ or ‘ah so’, or to give a more common German example ‘schweinehund’. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-phrases-idioms-which-dont-exist-in-the-putative-language/411576/23 "2007-07-13T18:46:41Z")
I have an Italian cousin (by marriage) who says “ooh la la” as his primary exclamation of surprise/excitement/whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-phrases-idioms-which-dont-exist-in-the-putative-language/411576/24 "2007-07-15T15:48:42Z")
In the war comics of my youth when our honest ,clean cut Tommies were giving the fiendish storm troopers a damned good thrashing said storm troopers always ,apart from numerous Achtungs always shouted Donner und Blitzen or Gott in Himmel when taken by surprise. Ref incorrect german pronunciation resulting in saying something completely different,my ex missus informed me that when I thought I was saying “dont shoot”,I was actually saying “dont Shit” ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-phrases-idioms-which-dont-exist-in-the-putative-language/411576/25 "2007-07-15T17:26:17Z")
[QUOTE=tschild] By far the most frequent use of nonexistent German phrases in English has a grammatical reason, though - resulting from the notion that there is one German word that’s the translation of the English word “the”. (usually, it seems, _der_ is assumed, but the definitive article can be _der, die, das, des, dem, den_ depending on gender, number and case) [/QUOTE] So does ‘_Die, Bart Die_’ really mean ‘_The Bart, The_’? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-phrases-idioms-which-dont-exist-in-the-putative-language/411576/26 "2007-07-15T18:44:40Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] I had a french guy explain that “Sacre bleu!” was an expression common waaaay back in the 1600s, and hence when Dumas was writing “The Three Musketeers”, it was appropriate for his characters to use it. However, it hasn’t been in common use in France for hundreds of years. [/QUOTE] I’m probably totally out to lunch (where did THAT phrase come from?), but it’s my understanding that “Sacre bleu” dates back to when blasphemy was illegal in France and it’s a corruption of “Sacre Dieu” that hopefully wouldn’t get you in trouble if the wrong people overheard you saying it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-phrases-idioms-which-dont-exist-in-the-putative-language/411576.md?page=1)