this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
164 points (97.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26890 readers
2620 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

What are some (non-English) idioms, and what do they mean (both literally and in context)? Odd ones, your favorite ones - any and all are welcome. :)

For example, in English I might call someone a "good egg," meaning they're a nice person. Or, if it's raining heavily, I might say "it's raining cats and dogs."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] HerrVorragend@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago (3 children)

German:

tie a bear on so. / so.'s back - to fool so.

make so. believe a X is an U - to fool so.

being blue - being drunk

the devil is a squirrel - devil is in the details

--

My favourite is hard to translate.

'verschlimmbessern' - to want to fix something but making it worse in doing so.

Imbadprove maybe

[–] Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

To make a worseprovement! I like that one.

[–] No_Change_Just_Money@feddit.de 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I want to add some:

The core of the poodle - the truth, the solution to a riddle

Being on the wood way - Being confidently wrong

Butter to the fish - lets be honest and come to the point

That is like jacket and troursers - two things being the same

This is like jumping and leaping - two actions being the same

[–] Norgur@kbin.social 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

s.th. is not the yellow from the egg: It's not the best
I only understand train station: I did not understand anything
Now we have the salad: Now we're screwed
now it’s about the sausage: Things have gotten serious
So is carved from another (kind of) wood: So is more capable