Interesting idioms in your language

[Tycho Brahe]

"Es un cuento chino" = "It is a Chinese tale" ---> It is a lie.

En søforklaring = a sailors tale/explanation/rapport = Long explanation full of bad excuses or outright lies.

Stå med skægget/håret/fletningerne i postkassen =To stand with the beard/hair/braids in the postbox = to be in a tight spot.

"I understand nothing but train station"
I don't understand a word, in german.

Hehehe! I can just imagine a tourist asking for directions

Blah blah blah blah eisenbahn blah blah blah blah

 

[_random_]

To make an elephant out of fly - Exaggerate.

The English equivalent is "to make a mountain out of a molehill."

 

[Thorgalaeg]

In Spanish it is: "hacer una montaña de un grano de arena" = "too make a mountain out of a grain of sand"

 

[warpus]

I would love to hear some East Asian or African idioms. Something not indo-european

 

[Leoreth]

Russian:
To hang noodles on (someone's) ears - To deceive somebody.

My favourite Russian idiom!

A German idiom I like a lot is "den Bock zum Gärtner machen", i.e. "turn the buck into the gardener", which means putting those who cause a problem in charge of fixing it.

 

[Defiant47]

An interesting one in Romanian:

"This is cabbage!" - This is a complete mess

 

[aronnax]

I would love to hear some East Asian or African idioms. Something not indo-european

The Chinese language is full of four-character idioms called chenyus. I'm not too good with them, but a powerful Chinese speaker can subdue anyone by shooting off these idiom bullets in quick succession.

Some that I know of are:
不可救药
Literal Translation: No medicine can save you
Meaning: You're hopeless/Your situation is hopeless

人外有人，天外有天
Literal Translation: Beyond people, there are people, beyond sky, there is sky
Meaning: No matter how good you are, there is always someone better.

对牛弹琴
Literal Translation: Play the piano to a cow
Meaning: casting pearls before swines/wasting your effort and time/ other party doesn't appreciate it

开天辟地
Literal Translation: Open the sky and earth
Meaning: Move heaven and earth (for you)

海阔天空
Literal Translation: As wide as the sea, as empty as the sky
Meaning: The possibilities are limitless, like the sea and sky
OR
Talk randomly without reference points

QI thought me one funny Greek idiom
κάτι τρέχει στα γύφτικα
Literal meaning: There is trouble in the gypsy village
Meaning: Who the hell cares?

 

[warpus]

Stå med skægget/håret/fletningerne i postkassen =To stand with the beard/hair/braids in the postbox = to be in a tight spot.

That would be a tight spot! I'm going to start using this.

QI thought me one funny Greek idiom
κάτι τρέχει στα γύφτικα
Literal meaning: There is trouble in the gypsy village
Meaning: Who the hell cares?

There is a somewhat more or equally offensive Polish idiom...

Ciemno jak u murzyna w dupie - It's as dark as up an African's arse

Not very pc.. and I don't think it's really supposed to be that offensive, just a very matter of fact statement about the lack of light.. but I'd hope it's not really used in mainstream culture in Poland

 

[red_elk]

Some more Russian ones:

Show someone where crayfishes spend winter / show 'Kuzkina' mother - Make it hot for someone
(His) hens don’t peck the money - Somebody is very rich
To turn like a squirrel in a wheel - Being very busy.
To work with sleeves rolled up - Work hard.
To work with sleeves unrolled - Work in a slipshod manner.
Here’s where the dog is buried - Here's the key point
To wait by the sea for the weather - Passively wait for something
To get a cat in a sack - Get (buy) something without knowing what it is.
To carry water in a sieve - Doing pointless work, wasting time
To promise mountains of gold - Make a lot of promises, persuading somebody.
As like as two drops of water - Two very similar things or people

 

[red_elk]

Ciemno jak u murzyna w dupie

Oh, we have exactly the same one
I didn't even need translation

 

[warpus]

Oh, we have exactly the same one
I didn't even need translation

Should I get rid of the translation maybe? Is this too offensive? Well.. I hope not.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Ironically, I've discovered that English uses the idiom "It's Double-Dutch", which has exactly the same meaning.

Double-Dutch doesn't mean you can't understand something. Double-Dutch is a language invented by children.

 

[classical_hero]

In french, we say
1. "c'est du chinois" "it's chinese" to say "it's all Greek to me".
2. "va te faire voir chez les Grecs" "go f**** yourself in Greece" !!! I don't know why?

One of my favorite is "enceinte jusqu'aux yeux" "to be pregnent up to the eyes"

I think i can explain the second one if I understand the meaning of Greek in a phrase when you talk to someone, the opposite, when you say, do you have any Greek in you, which is slang for anal sex, due to the common understand of Greece being very homosexual orientated. Well that would be my understanding of why that second phrase could be the way it is.

 

[red_elk]

Should I get rid of the translation maybe? Is this too offensive? Well.. I hope not.

To me it sounds not much more offensive than "trouble in a Gypsy village". Let's see

Spoiler :

Russian variant is "Темно как у негра в жопе"