| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Off topic: Idioms: Do you have a good one you would like to share Thread poster: yolanda Speece
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Marion Lurf 
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:44
English to German
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| Gerard, are you saying... | Feb 7, 2007 |
Gerard de Noord wrote:
"Iemand bij de lurven vatten."
To grab someone by the notched wood, to apprehend somebody. Lurven is the plural of lurf, but the meaning of lurf is lost to almost any Dutch speaker. To complicate things, "iemand bij de lurven vatten" is synonymous to "iemand bij de kladden grijpen" (to grab someone by the scruff of the neck), but I still have to meet a contemporary Dutch speaker who can explain the meaning of "klad, kladden".
...that my surname actually means something in Dutch but that no one has a clue what it is?? I am in Eindhoven just now, so maybe I should just go out and question random people on the street...
By the way, we have almost the same idom in Austria: "Jemanden am Krawattl packen" (to grab someone by the scruff of the neck).
A different idiom I found hilariously funny the first time I heard it is "Ein feuchter Fetzen ist schnell nass" (literally: a moist cloth gets wet quickly), using the pun that in Austria "einen Fetzen haben" means "to be drunk". So if you drank the night before, chances are that you will be drunk even faster the next day!
| | | | | Some Texan sayings... | Feb 7, 2007 |
If you want to call a boy stupid, "Ned in the first reader" or "Nadine" for a girl - my brother and I shared these titles often as children!
And the infamous "That's the pot calling the kettle black", which is what my brother would say to me when I called him Ned!
If it's really cold, "it's as cold as a witch's ....... (slang word for breast that begins with the letter T)
If it's really hot, "It's as hot as spit on the sidewalk"
And an Italian expression t... See more If you want to call a boy stupid, "Ned in the first reader" or "Nadine" for a girl - my brother and I shared these titles often as children!
And the infamous "That's the pot calling the kettle black", which is what my brother would say to me when I called him Ned!
If it's really cold, "it's as cold as a witch's ....... (slang word for breast that begins with the letter T)
If it's really hot, "It's as hot as spit on the sidewalk"
And an Italian expression that it took me a while to understand- "Che culo!" Literally, "What ass!", meaning- "What luck!"
Jennifer ▲ Collapse
| | | | | les chiens aboient, la caravane passe | Feb 8, 2007 |
Dogs bark, the caravan passes by.
| | | | Özden Arıkan
Germany
Local time: 20:44
Member
English to Turkish
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| İt ürür, kervan yürür | Feb 8, 2007 |
is the Turkish version of your idiom. And I thought it was a Turkish idiom only until a couple of months ago, when I heard its French, Spanish, German, Hungarian... [maybe more, don't quite remember right now] versions.
Got no idea on the origins, but, hmm... ours rhymes
interpres_inde wrote:
Dogs bark, the caravan passes by.
[Edited at 2007-02-08 10:47]
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| Psy szczekają, karawana idzie dalej | Feb 8, 2007 |
Özden Arıkan wrote:
is the Turkish version of your idiom.
And that's the same one in Polish.
| | | | yolanda Speece
Local time: 13:44
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | What does the idiom mean? | Feb 8, 2007 |
interpres_inde wrote:
Dogs bark, the caravan passes by.
Is it that while you are sitting there making a commotion, life is passing you by?
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yolanda Speece wrote: interpres_inde wrote:
Dogs bark, the caravan passes by.
Is it that while you are sitting there making a commotion, life is passing you by?
I believe it says something like this: when you have a bigger goal or you are serious or sincere to a purpose, you would ignore the fact that some people may not be pleased with what you are doing. That the dogs bark is hardly a deterrent for the caravan! There may be people who would criticize what you are doing, but would you let them stop you on your path?
| | | | | Bamun gelo ghar to langal tule dhar! | Feb 8, 2007 |
Sorry, but I just can't resist posting this Bengali idiom. The Bamun or Brahmin is a man of higher caste and hence a landowner. When he returns home for a rest, his serfs, the tillers of his land, would utilize this opportunity by hoisting the plough to their shoulders and taking a mid-day nap. They would thus shirk their duties.
This is closer to your English....When the cat is away the mice will play!
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| Tu n'as pas inventé la machine à tordre les bananes | Feb 9, 2007 |
I just heard this idiom recently: "You didn't invent the machine that bends bananas." Basically you're a doofus.
| | | | | Australianisms | Feb 10, 2007 |
Anne Wosnitza wrote: idioms here are made up but there actually are some good (and similar!) ones in 'real' Australian language like to come the raw prawn (to pull sb.'s leg)
One I use all the time is "flat out like a lizard drinking", meaning to be really busy.
I was also talking today about a restaurant that charges like a wounded bull - meaning their prices are astronomical - I think maybe they say this in England too? Not sure...
An old favourite from when I was a kid - we used to say "I'm full as a goog!" (A "goog" being an egg) when we'd had a lot to eat.
Thanks for mentioning that Anne! You don't realise how many you use day to day until you stop to think about it;)
| | | | | Lost in Translation - Where The Bloody Hell Are You? | Feb 10, 2007 |
Jenny Forbes wrote:
I heard an (allegedly true) story about Australia.
Apparently, the Australian Meat Marketing Board was worried about the decline in sales of beef. They commissioned an advertising agency to come up with a slogan to encourage Australians to buy more.
After long deliberation, the agency came up with the slogan:
EAT MORE BLOODY BEEF, YOU BASTARDS
which then appeared on billboards all over the country.
Of course, it needs to be spoken in a vigorous Australian accent.
Can you tell me whether it's true? And did it boost sales?
You really had me laughing until I was chewing the wall to wall.
Love, Jenny.
[Edited at 2007-02-07 12:52]
I never saw this beef one, but it wouldn't surprise me! I'm not sure if you heard the uproar last year about the Australian tourism campaign though - "Where The Bloody Hell Are You?" It turned into such a controversy, because the light-hearted appeal didn't quite translate as they'd planned it to in many countries - I think they ended up translating it into Japanese as "So, why don't you come?", as the original was considered too offensive! I think there were problems in Canada too. The controversy was plastered all over the papers for weeks, but as they say, any publicity is good publicity;)
Watch the ad here: www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com
[Edited at 2007-02-10 13:01]
It was banned in the UK too at some stage - Bloody Nora! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4789650.stm
[Edited at 2007-02-10 13:03]
| | | | Anne Wosnitza
Netherlands
Local time: 20:44
Member
English to German
+ ...
That was wonderful, Anne! It reminded me of the strip cartoon "Barry Mackenzie" that used to appear in the early days of "Private Eye", written and drawn by Barry Humphries before he became Dame Edna.
I heard an (allegedly true) story about Australia.
Apparently, the Australian Meat Marketing Board was worried about the decline in sales of beef. They commissioned an advertising agency to come up with a slogan to encourage Australians to buy more.
After long deliberation, the agency came up with the slogan:
EAT MORE BLOODY BEEF, YOU BASTARDS
which then appeared on billboards all over the country.
Of course, it needs to be spoken in a vigorous Australian accent.
Can you tell me whether it's true? And did it boost sales?
You really had me laughing until I was chewing the wall to wall.
Love, Jenny.
[Edited at 2007-02-07 12:52]
I have no idea, sorry. But I can imagine that it did boost sales!
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