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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."

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[-] bus_factor@lemmy.world 20 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

In Norwegian we say "helt sylta" ("completely pickled") when we have a very stuffy nose. I tried using that idiom when calling out of work in the US once, and was informed that I had just told them I was too drunk to go to work!

[-] Holyhandgrenade@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

I love the Norwegian "helt Texas" or "completely Texas", which means something's totally crazy. Probably a reference to Westerns.

[-] Susaga@ttrpg.network 7 points 8 months ago

I feel like it's accurate to say Texas is completely Texas.

[-] bus_factor@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

A classic! I don't know how I forgot to mention that one, I even coincidentally explained it to someone earlier today!

[-] BaardFigur@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

We also have:

"Ta ein spansk ein"
"Take a spanish one"

Doing a half-assed solution

[-] Aremel@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Cubans have the antonym to that:

Aserlo como los blancos "Do it like white people"

Do it properly ๐Ÿ˜œ

[-] bus_factor@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Almost forgot "jalla" or "jallamekk", originally adopted by Norwegian military from a middle eastern word for "fast", meaning a quick and dirty, but not particularly high quality, solution.

[-] amio@kbin.social 1 points 8 months ago

Or, y'know, Texas.

[-] Lmaydev@programming.dev 7 points 8 months ago

Yeah it's common in English that saying "I'm Xed" means drunk.

Fucked, twated, trollied, muntered, cunted, steamed etc.

[-] bus_factor@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

According to John Oliver you can use any noun, like for example "gazeboed".

[-] Skyhighatrist@lemmy.ca 9 points 8 months ago

That's generally true, but there are some exceptions. For instance. "I'm pissed" can either mean "I'm drunk" or "I'm angry" depending on where you are and the context.

[-] ABCDE@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

UK would always be drunk, in my experience.

[-] Skyhighatrist@lemmy.ca 1 points 8 months ago

Yeah, that's one of the geographical differences I was alluding to. In Canada it can mean either depending on context.

[-] ABCDE@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

That's interesting to know. I guess there has been some cultural spillover in the UK so some may use it the American style, I just haven't heard it.

[-] bus_factor@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Yeah, some nouns are already taken, that's fair. Like "shafted".

[-] Lmaydev@programming.dev 8 points 8 months ago

100% people in the UK would know what you meant straight away.

this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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