Odd sayings which mean something totally different than the words
themselves would suggest.
We use them every day and never even think twice
that taken literally, they’re actually quite bizarre.
Have you ever thought
about the phrase to chew the fat, for instance? Probably not something you’d
like to do if it were a real bit of nice, raw lard, right?
The funny
weirdness is much more obvious when you look at phrases from another
language. So we’ve put together for you some gems from German, French,
Czech and Polish, enjoy:
GERMAN:
Everything has an end, only the
sausage has two. (All things come to an end.)
Alles hat ein Ende, nur die
Wurst hat zwei.
Now we’re playing for the sausage. (It’s all or nothing
now.)
Jetzt geht’s um die Wurst.
That makes the dog in the pan crazy.
(That’s unbelievable!)
Da wird der Hund in der Pfanne verrückt.
You’re
extending a special sausage now. (Now you’re demanding special treatment.)
Jetzt verlangst du ein Extrawurst.
She has tomatoes on her eyes. (She
doesn’t see what’s right in front of her.)
Sie hat Tomaten auf den Augen.
I believe my pig is whistling. (I’m very surprised.)
Ich glaube mein
Schwein pfeift.
He’s acting the part of a wronged liver sausage. (He’s really
milking being the victim.)
Er spielt die beledigte Leberwurst.
Do you still have all the
mugs in the cupboard? (Are you a bit cuckoo or what?)
Hast du noch alle
Tassen im Schrank?
Now I’m standing on a hose. (I’ve no idea what to do
now.)
Jetzt stehe ich auf dem Schlauch.
There wasn’t a single swine.
(Nobody was there.)
Kein Schwein war da.
You’re getting on my biscuit.
(You’re annoying me.)
Du geht’s mir auf den Keks.
Lid down, monkey’s
dead. (This thing is finished. That’s it.)
Klapp zu, Affe tot.
I have
cabbage steam. (I’m starving.)
Ich habe Kohldampf.
CZECH:
Did
you fall from a blueberry bush and hit your bossom? (Are you a bit touched
in the head?)
Spadl jsi z borůvky na prsa?
It’s as useful to me as a
winter coat to a corpse. (Not useful at all.)
Je mi to platný jak mrtvýmu
zimník.
He acts as though he ate Solomon’s poop. (He thinks he’s the
smartest man alive.)
Chová se, jako by sežral Šalamounovo hovno.
He’s
important like the railing at an abyss. (He acts like he's the most
important guy ever.)
Je
důležitej jak zábradlí u Macochy.
To beat thrushes (really, the
birds). (To snooze, or nod off. Even Czech linguists are arguing how the
heck did that one come about.)
Tlouct špačky.
It is a sausage to me.
(I don’t care at all.)
Je mi
to buřt.
To pull on the house shoes. (To kick the bucket.)
Natáhnout
bačkory.
She’s floating around like a poop on a water canal. (She acts
all high and aristocratic.)
Nese se jak hovno na průplavu.
Where the
foxes are wishing a good night. (In the middle of nowhere.)
Kde dávají lišky
dobrou noc.
Climb up my hump. (Leave me alone.)
Vlez mi na hrb.
FRENCH:
There’s a testicle in the soup. (There’s a problem!)
Il y une couille dans le potage.
To comb a giraffe. (To do something
pointless.)
Peigner la giraffe.
To have one’s butt full of noodles.
(To be very lucky.)
Avoir le cul bordé de nouilles.
To pee in a
violin. (To be pointless.)
Pisser dans un violon.
To fart higher than
one’s butt. (To be full of yourself.)
Péter plus haut que son cul.
To
have one’s head up one’s butt. (To be very tired.)
Avoir la tête dans le
cul.
I do it with my cock and my knife. (I do it with very limited
equipment/resources. You know, MacGyver style.)
Je le fais avec ma bite
et mon couteau.
Go boil yourself an egg. (Leave me alone.)
Aller se
faire cuire un œuf.
POLISH
To smell the mint off somebody. (To be
attracted to someone.)
Czuć miętę do kogoś.
He has flies up his nose.
(He’s irritated.)
Ma muchy w nosie.
To sit like in a Turkish sermon.
(To have no idea what they’re talking about.)
Siedzieć jak na tureckim
kazaniu.
He goes to sleep with the chickens. (He goes to bed early.)
Chodzi spać z kurami
To dress up like a rat for a sewage opening. (To
dress up too fancy for the occasion.)
Wystroić się jak szczur na otwarcie
kanału.
What does gingerbread got to do with a fan? (What’s that got to
do with anything?)
Co ma piernik do wiatraka?
Do you know more? Use the
form below :-) 
