Hey, we got "You're not made of chocolate" instead of made of sugar!
Also, we use "fly buttfucking" to refer to getting bogged down in useless details of something. (Like "Stop doing that, it's just fucking flies" or "god damnit, we're just assfucking flies right now" (without an official translation, any combination is correct I guess))
I got "you aren't made of sugar" from my mom & her parents as an English speaker. It's fun to see idioms that cross cultural and language boundaries too.
We have an old saying
"In terms of taste and color there are no friends",
meaning that it's hard for people to agree in liking the same and there's no point to argue about matters of personal preference.
Recently it was morphed into (said with a tone of an experienced person):
"In terms of taste and color all marker pens are different",
which started as a joke about the speaker implying that he as well eats marker pens (what is most likely a more questionable activity than discussed topic).
Here are a select few from one of my languages, I've heard most of them quite recently. I'd love for you to guess what language it might be.
"The baker shan't testify on the quality of his dough" kind of self explanatory I think - an expert cannot testify on the quality of their work because they're obviously biased.
"The shy cannot study" studying involves questions, and shy students who can't/won't ask questions can't possibly know the material well.
"Lost advices" - someone who can't decide, doesn't know what to do, that person is lost advices.
"(The) Pain of many (is) half a consolation" if a lot of people suffer from the same thing (usually not an illness or death, more like a bad teacher failing half the class) at least there's something almost comforting in the fact a lot of people are in it together.
"Void in sixty" - If it's like 1/60 or an even smaller percentage in something else, it doesn't count, like a drop in the ocean.
"Head in the wall" a person that deliberately ignores someone's advice to do what they think is right, even if it means going straight through a wall with their thick skull.
I took my daughter to the San Diego Zoo to see the capybaras and it was like a religious experience for her. She was glued to the capybara exhibit for like 45 minutes, just staring at them and occasionally making cute noises. She's five, and if you've ever met a five year old you understand just how insane it was for these oversized hamsters to have captured her attention for so long.
In Afrikaans we have something similar to the Russian paws one.
"My hande is rond" - my hands are round, i.e. I can't do the work because I can't hold anything with my useless, round hands.
We have a few other wonderful ones.
If you find someone attractive, you could say "Hulle kan enige tyd hulle pantoffels onder my bed inskop" - they can kick their slippers in under my bed any time.
When it rains while the sun is out, we call it "jakkals trou met wolf se vrou" - jackal/fox marrying wolf's wife.
"Die kool die sous werd maak" - Make the cabbage worth the sauce, amounts to making something worthwhile for the effort put in.
"So gevloek/sleg gesê dat die see jou nie kan afwas nie" - So sworn at/insulted that the sea couldn't wash you clean.
"van die os op die jas" - from the ox to the jacket, means to change the subject to something entirely unrelated.
I came up with a metaphor that goes "in a world of competition, make a fantasy team" which is meant to mean if you need to make a choice, then choose what you think will work for you, even if it might mean piece mealing.
My family has a similar response to a request. When requested to do something that involves standing up we respond with “but I can’t, I have a bone in my leg”. It confuses the kids playfully. And if we are pushed further to act we then double down with “no really, it’s massive this giant thing (gestures the size of a femur) is stuck in my leg, I can barely lift it”. It took a while for my wife to get I was joking at the start, but now she says it as well.
Bonus: We ask the first person to stand from the couch to pee for us so we don’t have to get up.
My favorite russian saying is not exactly a metaphor but it’s Mukhosransk. It literally translates to Flyshittown, and is supposed to invoke a tiny provincial town that you’re not sure is a real dot on the map or just a speck of fly shit. Like Bumfuck, Nowhere but more poetic imo
Just watched the Better Call Saul scene yesterday where he's complaining that the little graduating bear only has paws and no opposable thumbs and so he cannot fill out a form!
Funny, we're not anywhere near being associated with Russia but my brother has been saying "I have flippers" (like a penguin) to mean the exact same thing. He's been saying that for over 15 years
>implying that paws by nature of their shape lower your dexterity but it's totally fine if they're big
this is a shallow metaphor. yes, i'm very smart. jokes aside, really cute stuff.
Honestly, the first one sounds too similar to “having pause,” which is to say one is hesitant about doing something, and that’s really close to the same meaning anyway. So we basically already have this exact phrase, but it’s not the same metaphor.
"O que o cu tem a ver com as calças" - what does the asshole have to do with the pants, used when someone says something unrelated to your argument.
"O que é um peido pra quem já tá cagado" - what is a fart to someone who already shat themselves. Usually used when you're already swamped/stressed and something else happens that you gotta deal with, but you don't really care at this point.
"Pimenta no olho do outro é refresco" - pepper in the eyes of someone else is a refreshment = someone else's suffering is all fun and dandy (usually with the context of hypocrisy, aka someone who can dish out but can't take it)
"Tem louco pra tudo" - there's a crazy person for everything, an answer to the question "who would even do this?"
"Quem não tem cão, caça com gato" - (people) who don't have dogs hunt with cats, said when you're improvising a solution to a problem.
"Cor de burro quando foge" - color of a donkey when it flees. Used when you can't really describe a color, for some reason.
A friend of the jaguar is a bad friend, if someone is a cat it means they're hot, if they're a horse they're stubborn, if they're a tapir they're stupid (this one i genuinely have no clue why. Tapirs are so chill).
Example: “ How would I reply to you, I have paws”
https://preview.redd.it/4862fzgorsbg1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9e565e2472838f7d604d37895d1a7259076d7c6
Russian cat memes are my favorite niche of cat image.
I also love Muslim cat memes.
Obligatory shoutout to /r/catsaremuslim
That and pictures of tiny cats where they're so tiny in the picture too
Thank you for leading me to r/Tinycatsinbigspaces
My favorite are irony poisoned Flopa war criminal ones. Guilty!
I'm pretty sure big paws metaphor comes from this meme:
https://preview.redd.it/gvouw8v10tbg1.jpeg?width=768&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=268bd7a0e8fe45cb6df27c00329017e6a1ea1268
A really rough translation:
"Hey, who's paving the way over there? Could you not dig straight?"
"Dunno, maybe someone clumsy or squint-eyed, lol."
"I'm really fkn tired going back and forth already."
"Who gives a damn? We're moving - thanks for that at least."
"I'M A BIG FLUFFY WOLF, GOD, HOW AWESOME I AM, HOW POWERFUL MY BIG PAWS ARE!"
Wonderful! Thank you for your service
Does "X3" translate to "Dunno"?
Yeah, it's very rude/informal though. It's short for "хер/хуй знает" - "dick knows" if you translate it literally :)
You can censure it by changing to "хрен"
Omg, anytime my dog runs off to go see what my roommates are doing I always tell him he can't help because he has paws!
I never thought about using it for myself!
I'm always telling my cat she can't help because she doesn't have thumbs. Going to throw tiny paws out there now too.
My cats got thumbs. She can't help cuz all she's got between her ears is fluff. She's a floofy girl
Happy cake day!
/r/thumbcats
I love learning idioms in other languages even more than the vocabulary/grammar themselves.
It's an easy way to get insight into a foreign history and their culture.
Here are some of my language, some dont translate very well but what can you do.
"In hindsight you look in a cows ass" to say "hindsight is 20/20"
"An antfucker" is what you call someone who pays too much attention to detail
"You arent made of sugar" to say when someone is complaining about the rain(this happens a lot)
"Butter with the fish" means that you need to pay on the spot for goods or services, not later.
"The best steersmen are ashore" to say that giving critique is easier than doing it.
To "fall between ship and shore" means being neglected or being stuck between two problems with conflicting solutions.
"The sun rises for free" to say that everything except the base functionality of the universe costs something
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the main region of your language has a strong maritime history. I love you aren't made of sugar though
“antfucker” reminds me of this
https://preview.redd.it/nn39hdau0ubg1.jpeg?width=556&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6e0afbe5ba5f6b11d43858eb0054d39b6c00c3e
Dutch?
Yup, you guessed it. All the water related ones probably made it fairly obvious.
The "you're not made of sugar" is also said in Brazil!
in russian too
Interesting, because that one exists in German too, but it means to stop beating around the bush, to talk straight.
"Antfucker" is taking me out lol
It's good in slavic too, since you can change a single letter from anteater, which is how Vermilingua is called here.
antfucker is amazing lmao. in my native language we have "an ant's dick worth" for an absolutely minuscule amount, wonder how related that is
We have "How the cat cried" with the same meaning
Hey, we got "You're not made of chocolate" instead of made of sugar!
Also, we use "fly buttfucking" to refer to getting bogged down in useless details of something. (Like "Stop doing that, it's just fucking flies" or "god damnit, we're just assfucking flies right now" (without an official translation, any combination is correct I guess))
I got "you aren't made of sugar" from my mom & her parents as an English speaker. It's fun to see idioms that cross cultural and language boundaries too.
we have "fly fucker" in french with the same meaning ! Though we specifiy that the fly is fucked in the ass
"It's not good/fun eating cherries with him"
He's a serious, potentially even dangerous, opponent.
"I only understand train station"
Completely incomprehensible
"I wouldn't push them off the edge of my bed"
I'm attracted to them
"Even a blind chicken finds a corn from time to time"
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
"Get/draw the ass card"
Get the shit end of the stick.
"Go tell that to the ferryman"
Likely story...
"A lot of dead fish are gonna float down the Rhine until then"
Things may still change until this becomes relevant/gets realized.
"Now you turn up like the old carnival."
Be late, or mention something late.
"Walk into clapping lane."
Face consequences of actions.
"Another dog-burial"
Some minor event, often used if someone is always attending them.
"There's enough hay downstairs."
Enough is enough
"You learn saving [money] from rich people"
Often said in response to someone who's wealthy being a miser.
"Wanting the bun and the coin."
Having one's cake and eat it, too.
"The good lord likes many different meals."
In response to people and their behavior you find strange.
"If everyone looked after themselves, everyone would be looked after."
They should mind their own business.
"The faster [person] is quicker."
First come, first served (and I came first).
this will affect the trout population
We have an old saying "In terms of taste and color there are no friends", meaning that it's hard for people to agree in liking the same and there's no point to argue about matters of personal preference.
Recently it was morphed into (said with a tone of an experienced person): "In terms of taste and color all marker pens are different", which started as a joke about the speaker implying that he as well eats marker pens (what is most likely a more questionable activity than discussed topic).
English has "even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while" which is probably a little closer to that chicken one
Here are a select few from one of my languages, I've heard most of them quite recently. I'd love for you to guess what language it might be.
"The baker shan't testify on the quality of his dough" kind of self explanatory I think - an expert cannot testify on the quality of their work because they're obviously biased.
"The shy cannot study" studying involves questions, and shy students who can't/won't ask questions can't possibly know the material well.
"Lost advices" - someone who can't decide, doesn't know what to do, that person is lost advices.
"(The) Pain of many (is) half a consolation" if a lot of people suffer from the same thing (usually not an illness or death, more like a bad teacher failing half the class) at least there's something almost comforting in the fact a lot of people are in it together.
"Void in sixty" - If it's like 1/60 or an even smaller percentage in something else, it doesn't count, like a drop in the ocean.
"Head in the wall" a person that deliberately ignores someone's advice to do what they think is right, even if it means going straight through a wall with their thick skull.
I took my daughter to the San Diego Zoo to see the capybaras and it was like a religious experience for her. She was glued to the capybara exhibit for like 45 minutes, just staring at them and occasionally making cute noises. She's five, and if you've ever met a five year old you understand just how insane it was for these oversized hamsters to have captured her attention for so long.
That’s wonderful. Also your ability to chill and let her watch them for 45 minutes tells me you’re a good dad
Tumblr link: https://www.tumblr.com/lilaclupin/803192482517090304/very-important-addition-oh-my-gosh
)
Relevant xkcd https://xkcd.com/859/
As a native russian speaker I feel very happy that more people are learning about this metaphor
In Afrikaans we have something similar to the Russian paws one.
"My hande is rond" - my hands are round, i.e. I can't do the work because I can't hold anything with my useless, round hands.
We have a few other wonderful ones.
If you find someone attractive, you could say "Hulle kan enige tyd hulle pantoffels onder my bed inskop" - they can kick their slippers in under my bed any time.
When it rains while the sun is out, we call it "jakkals trou met wolf se vrou" - jackal/fox marrying wolf's wife.
"Die kool die sous werd maak" - Make the cabbage worth the sauce, amounts to making something worthwhile for the effort put in.
"So gevloek/sleg gesê dat die see jou nie kan afwas nie" - So sworn at/insulted that the sea couldn't wash you clean.
"van die os op die jas" - from the ox to the jacket, means to change the subject to something entirely unrelated.
у меня лапки
I came up with a metaphor that goes "in a world of competition, make a fantasy team" which is meant to mean if you need to make a choice, then choose what you think will work for you, even if it might mean piece mealing.
My family has a similar response to a request. When requested to do something that involves standing up we respond with “but I can’t, I have a bone in my leg”. It confuses the kids playfully. And if we are pushed further to act we then double down with “no really, it’s massive this giant thing (gestures the size of a femur) is stuck in my leg, I can barely lift it”. It took a while for my wife to get I was joking at the start, but now she says it as well.
Bonus: We ask the first person to stand from the couch to pee for us so we don’t have to get up.
My favorite russian saying is not exactly a metaphor but it’s Mukhosransk. It literally translates to Flyshittown, and is supposed to invoke a tiny provincial town that you’re not sure is a real dot on the map or just a speck of fly shit. Like Bumfuck, Nowhere but more poetic imo
Mine is серобуромалиновое which literally translates to grayish-stormy-magentaish and is you making up a color or going "whatever it is'
topkek
I've been told I have capybara energy and I hold it as one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.
Just watched the Better Call Saul scene yesterday where he's complaining that the little graduating bear only has paws and no opposable thumbs and so he cannot fill out a form!
Funny, we're not anywhere near being associated with Russia but my brother has been saying "I have flippers" (like a penguin) to mean the exact same thing. He's been saying that for over 15 years
>implying that paws by nature of their shape lower your dexterity but it's totally fine if they're big
this is a shallow metaphor. yes, i'm very smart. jokes aside, really cute stuff.
I'll have to find out the original context, but my friend group says "I have no hands" in the same situation as the paws metaphor.
That addition is amazing
Honestly, the first one sounds too similar to “having pause,” which is to say one is hesitant about doing something, and that’s really close to the same meaning anyway. So we basically already have this exact phrase, but it’s not the same metaphor.
The last part of the second paragraph has me raising an eyebrow.
I have some brazilian ones.
"O que o cu tem a ver com as calças" - what does the asshole have to do with the pants, used when someone says something unrelated to your argument.
"O que é um peido pra quem já tá cagado" - what is a fart to someone who already shat themselves. Usually used when you're already swamped/stressed and something else happens that you gotta deal with, but you don't really care at this point.
"Pimenta no olho do outro é refresco" - pepper in the eyes of someone else is a refreshment = someone else's suffering is all fun and dandy (usually with the context of hypocrisy, aka someone who can dish out but can't take it)
"Tem louco pra tudo" - there's a crazy person for everything, an answer to the question "who would even do this?"
"Quem não tem cão, caça com gato" - (people) who don't have dogs hunt with cats, said when you're improvising a solution to a problem.
"Cor de burro quando foge" - color of a donkey when it flees. Used when you can't really describe a color, for some reason.
A friend of the jaguar is a bad friend, if someone is a cat it means they're hot, if they're a horse they're stubborn, if they're a tapir they're stupid (this one i genuinely have no clue why. Tapirs are so chill).
Downvote for russian
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