In Finnish we have “kissanristiäiset” (literally means a cat’s christening), which means some trivial and meaningless celebration/event.
In Finnish we have “kissanristiäiset” (literally means a cat’s christening), which means some trivial and meaningless celebration/event.
Czech has a lot of them!
Dělá z komára velblouda.
He’s making a camel out of a mosquito.
= He’s making it seem like a bigger problem than it is.
Nemaluj čerta na zeď.
Don’t draw an imp on the wall.
= Don’t be pessimistic. Don’t assume the most catastrophic scenario.
Jsem tam pečený vařený.
I’m there baked cooked.
= I go there a lot.
Dala mi košem.
She hit me with a basket.
= She dumped me, or rejected my (mostly romantic) offer or advances.
Dělá jako by se nechumelilo.
He’s pretending like it’s not heavily snowing.
= He’s pretending like something doesn’t concern him. He’s nonchalant about a serious situation.
Kápni božskou!
Drip the divine! (Object implied. Probably “the divine truth”)
= Tell the truth. Spill it.
Láme to přes koleno.
He’s breaking it over his knee.
= He’s forcing it.
Natáhnout bačkory / brka, zaklepat bačkorama
To stretch (one’s) slippers / quills, to tap with (one’s) slippers
= To die. To kick the bucket.
Padli jsme si do oka.
We fell into each other’s eye.
= We hit it off.
Rozumí tomu jako koza petrželi.
He understands it like a goat understands parsley.
= He doesn’t understand it.
Přišel jsem s křížkem po funuse.
I came with a little cross after the funeral.
= I came too late.
Házím perly sviním.
I’m throwing pearls to swines.
= I’m doing good work or acts of kindness that go underappreciated.
And I could go on :)
This is fascinating!
I’m also curious what causes idioms to be shared across languages, like “pearls before swine” (presumably this is shared because of the biblical verse, Matt 7:6)
I am absolutely going to use “he’s pretending like it’s not heavily snowing” from now on. Thank you for sharing all of these!
I’m glad so many people enjoyed my comment! Czech is a colorful language 😊
Like pearls to swine is a very seldom used idiom in English too, used very rarely and often in archaic/medievel/fantasy settings. Very interesting 2 languages have a shared idiom so neatly translated.
It’s from the Bible.
“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” – Matthew 7:6
Some of these are very interesting to me because very similar ones exist in German! Especially “einen Korb geben” (to give a basket) has me intrigued. Does this phrase come from a social norm to give a basket of something to someone you reject?
Thanks for sharing!
It’s very interesting indeed, I tried to research the origin of the idiom but was unsuccessful 🤔
“Drip the divine”
I love that Czech has a phrase for “spill the tea” but way cooler
I could hear someone with a very (US) Georgian accent saying “He understands that like a goat understands parsley”.
“I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s tasty.” – the goat
We fell into each other’s eye, sounds so sweet, romantic even. I might use that haha
In Dutch we have one similar to dělá z komára velblouda, we say “van een mug een olifant maken” (making a mosquito out for an elephant), it means the same!
Also one similar to přišel jsem s křížkem po funuse; “mosterd na de maaltijd” (mustard after the meal) means something mentioned or brought too late, when it was no longer necessary.
I wonder how many languages have sayings like this.
In English, we have “making a mountain out of a molehill”.
Ah, I’ve never even heard of that one in English!
That’s interesting!