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Coloquialisms and other sayings.
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Author | Message |
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Demiurg Send message Joined: 2 Jul 02 Posts: 883 Credit: 28,286 RAC: 0 |
22. Sarge Works in Sweden to... Titta aldrig en given häst i munnen. But I have never heard "sällan hostar hackspetten" being used in english... And that is of course; "seldomly the woodpecker coughs". It is SEXY to DONATE! Skype = demiurg2 |
Beethoven Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 15274 Credit: 8,546 RAC: 0 |
Hey Carl! That's an interesting expression. I think in English it would probably be "Occasionally, the woodpecker coughs". But what do people mean when they use that expression? Does it mean that now and then, even the unusual happens? |
Demiurg Send message Joined: 2 Jul 02 Posts: 883 Credit: 28,286 RAC: 0 |
It would be akin' to... "Never in a million years" It is SEXY to DONATE! Skype = demiurg2 |
Beethoven Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 15274 Credit: 8,546 RAC: 0 |
Ahhh! Thanks for that, Carl. That's one of the things that I love about this forum: you're always learning new things. :-) |
Demiurg Send message Joined: 2 Jul 02 Posts: 883 Credit: 28,286 RAC: 0 |
Than you have this one... "över huvud taget", or in english, "over the head taken". Love intranslatable expressions:-) Me and the swedish parliament representative to the EU used that expression in english to the total bewilderment of the british representative and the boss at CERN. It made half of our sentences totaly ununderstandable... *Muahahaha* It is SEXY to DONATE! Skype = demiurg2 |
Beethoven Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 15274 Credit: 8,546 RAC: 0 |
Hahahah! Tell me what it means. I'm dying to be more knowledgeable than the boss at CERN. If I ever meet him, I'll pretend that everyone knows that one! LOL Edit: Here's one in Hungarian. "Nem minden tarka sarka farka tarka, chok a farku fayta tarka sarka farka tarka". It's a tongue twister, like the English "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Picled Peppers". Translated literally, it means, "Not every chequered peacock has a chequered tail, just the chequered tailed peacock has a chequered tail". |
Demiurg Send message Joined: 2 Jul 02 Posts: 883 Credit: 28,286 RAC: 0 |
Fair equivalent would be "just about"... And the not literal translation? Are you hungarian? Sorry if I am nosy. It is SEXY to DONATE! Skype = demiurg2 |
Beethoven Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 15274 Credit: 8,546 RAC: 0 |
Nope, I'm Canadian. I understand it orally but I can't read or write in it. My father is a master of languages: to some degree he speaks 67 of them! Anyway, he taught this tongue-twister to a friend of his that used to go to a Hungarian barbershop. After the friend Louie got this memorized, he went in and put it out to the gang there. From that moment on, nobody would believe that he didn't speak Hungarian! LOL I understand a handful of languages but I'll never get close to what my father knows; I wouldn't even try. The meaning is: "Don't overgeneralize". |
Sarge Send message Joined: 25 Aug 99 Posts: 12273 Credit: 8,569,109 RAC: 79 |
hEY, GuYz, maybe we could have a separate thread for this? BTW: yes, you're Canadian, but what are your roots from before settling in Canada? Capitalize on this good fortune, one word can bring you round ... changes. |
Beethoven Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 15274 Credit: 8,546 RAC: 0 |
I'd answer that by saying I was born in Montreal, making me a French Canadian...but that would be off-topic. LOL |
GalaxyIce Send message Joined: 13 May 06 Posts: 8927 Credit: 1,361,057 RAC: 0 |
I have to jump in with a story here. I was skiing in Bulgaria one time and the Bulgarian waiter (who was actually Russian), eager to show off his English and his wit, would every single day say the same thing to me - "Are you finish?" - "No I am English" Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Those were his Ha Ha's - every single day, same joke :( Haha! flaming balloons |
John McLeod VII Send message Joined: 15 Jul 99 Posts: 24806 Credit: 790,712 RAC: 0 |
I have heard a story about an early English Russian computer translation program. When handed "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" the program translated that into Russian and back into English, and what came back was "The vodka is fine, but the meat is rotten." P.S. I am going to move an interesting thread hijack to here. BOINC WIKI |
Beethoven Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 15274 Credit: 8,546 RAC: 0 |
I have heard a story about an early English Russian computer translation program. When handed "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" the program translated that into Russian and back into English, and what came back was "The vodka is fine, but the meat is rotten." Good one, John! LOL Thanks for moving these posts. Much appreciated. The Germans have a saying, "Dich teure Halle!" which Babelfish translates to "You expensive resounds!". Actually the phrase translates better as "You precious hall!". It's the first part of a famous opening line of an aria by the character Elizabeth in Wagner's opera Tannhäuser, "Dich teure Halle, grüss Ich dich wieder!" or "You precious hall, I greet you again!". So, the phrase "Dich Teure Halle!" actually has the English meaning of "Home Sweet Home!". |
Misfit Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0 |
"When it's not about the science it's about the fun." -- Misfit me@rescam.org |
Beethoven Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 15274 Credit: 8,546 RAC: 0 |
"When it's not about the science it's about the fun." -- Misfit Bravo! |
Beethoven Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 15274 Credit: 8,546 RAC: 0 |
Here's one in French that made me laugh the first time I heard it: "Mon petit chou" which translates literally into "My little cabbage". Apparantly it's a popular term of endearment in France, similar to the English "Sweetie" or "Honey". So when a husband feels a welling of affection for his wife, he'll likey say to her, "My little cabbage". :-) |
thorin belvrog Send message Joined: 29 Sep 06 Posts: 6418 Credit: 8,893 RAC: 0 |
Oh, actually that's not really a saying - it was just poetic freedom of the poet who wrote the lyrics of Tannhäuser. Except in the opera-hall no-one says "Dich teure Halle" here anywhere.I have heard a story about an early English Russian computer translation program. When handed "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" the program translated that into Russian and back into English, and what came back was "The vodka is fine, but the meat is rotten." But I agree there are some sayings which make no sense when translated literally. For example: "(jmd.) einen Bären aufbinden" would mean "to bind a bear on (someone)", but I don't know if there is such a saying in English. The meaning of it is: to tell a bold lie to somebody. Another one is a more funny saying: When my father tells my mother to hurry up, he often adds: "Es ist höchste Eisenbahn" which translates literally into "it is highest train". Makes sense, doesn't it? This is a phrase I also heard often elsewhere in Germany, and it comes from an old theater-play, where an absent-minded postman says, leaving in hurry: "Es ist höchste Eisenbahn, die Zeit ist schon vor drei Stunden angekommen!" ("It is highest train, the time has already arrived three hours ago") - so the meaning is "it's high time" Account frozen... |
John McLeod VII Send message Joined: 15 Jul 99 Posts: 24806 Credit: 790,712 RAC: 0 |
For example: "(jmd.) einen Bären aufbinden" would mean "to bind a bear on (someone)", but I don't know if there is such a saying in English. The meaning of it is: to tell a bold lie to somebody. There are a couple. He speaks with a forked tongue (he never does what he says he is going to do, or nothing he says is true). He is lying through his teeth (what he is saying is untrue, and he knows it). He is speaking through his hat (what he is saying is untrue, and he does not know it - usually because of ignorance). BOINC WIKI |
Beethoven Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 15274 Credit: 8,546 RAC: 0 |
I don't doubt you Thorin, when you say that "Dich Teure Halle!" is not heard in Germany nowadays, but when I lived in Vienna back in the late '50s, I heard the expression a lot. Another German saying I remember is, "Er schlaff wie ein Murmeltier", which translates to "He slept like a marmot". It means to sleep very deeply. I'm guessing that the marmot, a member of possum family, hibernates through the winter. I'm not sure, but I think it's said in America that someone "Slept like a bear", meaning more or less the same thing. Is "Slept like a bear" an expression in the United States? I'm not sure. |
John McLeod VII Send message Joined: 15 Jul 99 Posts: 24806 Credit: 790,712 RAC: 0 |
For example: "(jmd.) einen Bären aufbinden" would mean "to bind a bear on (someone)", but I don't know if there is such a saying in English. The meaning of it is: to tell a bold lie to somebody. I know that, but I still hear it occasionally. BOINC WIKI |
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