It’s all Greek to me
Everyone misunderstands each other all the time. It's interesting to discover that the English idiom 'it's all Greek to me' has counterparts throughout the languages of Europe. To the Germans it's 'Spanish', to the Spanish and Hungarians it's 'Chinese', to the French it's 'Hebrew', to the Poles it's 'a Turkish sermon'. And there are more elaborate examples…
je to pro mne španelská vesnice (Czech) it's a Spanish village to me
das sind boehmische Doerfer fuermich (German ) it is all Bohemian villages to them
ich verstehe nur Bahnhof (German) I only understand station
A leopard cannot change its spots
chassez le naturel, il revient au gallop (French) chase away the natural and it returns at a gallop
Aus einem Ackergaul kann man kein Rennpferd machen (Swabian German) you cannot turn a farm horse into a racehorse
dhanab al kalb a 'waj walaw hattaytu fi khamsin galib (Arabic) the dog's tail remains crooked even if it's put in fifty moulds
vuk dlaku mijenja ali æud nikada (Croatian) a wolf changes his coat but not his attitude
Die Katze lässt das Mausen nicht (German) the cat will not abandon its habit of chasing mice
chi nasce quadrato non muore tondo (Italian) if you are born square you don't die round
karishkirdi kancha baksang dele tokoigo kachat (Kyrgyz) no matter how well you feed a wolf it always looks at the forest
gorbatogo mogila ispravit (Russian) only the grave will cure the hunchback
Getting the blues in Germany
The idioms of the world are full of colour. But getting the blues in Germany is a rather different experience:
Blaue vom Himmel herunter lu¨gen (German) to lie constantly (lit. to lie the blue out of the sky)
Gru¨n und blau a¨rgern sich (German) to see red (lit. to anger oneself green and blue)
blau machen (German) to take a day off (lit. to make blue)
blau sein (German) to be drunk (lit. to be blue)
blauen Auge davonkommen mit einem (German) to get off unscathed (lit. to get away with a blue eye)
blaues Auge ein (German) a black eye (lit. a blue eye)
die blaue Stunde (German) the time before dusk especially during winter (lit. the blue hour)
A sandwich short of a picnic
Šplouchá mu na maják (Czech) it's splashing on his lighthouse
hij heeft een klap van de molen gehad (Dutch) he got a blow from the windmill
avoir une araigneé au plafond (French) to have a spider on the ceiling
ne pas avoir invente le fil a couper le beurre (French) not to have invented the wire to cut butter
hu khay beseret (Hebrew) he lives in a movie: his whole life is like a movie
non avere tutti i venerdì (Italian) to be lacking some Fridays
tem macaquinhos no sotão (Portuguese) he has little monkeys in the attic
lud ko struja (Serbian) crazy as electricity
más loco que un plumero (Spanish) crazier than a feather duster
ikke at være den skarpeste kniv i skuffen (Danish) not to be the sharpest knife in the drawer
The pot calling the kettle black
c'est l'hôpital qui se moque de la Charité (French) it's the hospital that mocks Charity
rugala se sova sjenici (Croatian) the owl mocked the tit
il bue che dice cornuto all'asino (Italian) the ox saying 'horned' to the donkey
dotori kijaegi (Korean) comparing the height of acorns
al jamal ma yishuf sanamu (Arabic) the camel cannot see its own hump
ein Esel schimpft den anderen Langohr (German) a donkey gets cross with a rabbit
Once bitten, twice shy
el gato escaldado del agua caliente huye (Spanish) the cat that has been scalded runs away from hot water
sutten agizi yanan yogurdu ufleyerek yer (Turkish) if hot milk burns your mouth, you'll blow the yoghurt before you eat it
brændt barn skyer ilden (Danish) a burned child is shy of fire
ua mu le lima, tapa le i'ofi (Samoan) having foolishly got into trouble he is asking for help
puganaya vorona kusta (telezhnogo skripa/sobstvennoj teni) boitsya (Russian) a spooked crow is afraid of a bush (a carriage (wheel's) squeak/it's own shadow
mtafunwa na nyoka akiona unyasi hushtuka (Swahili) one who has been bitten by a snake startles at a reed
cão picado por cobra, tem medo de linguiça (Portuguese) a dog that has been bitten by a snake fears sausages
Between the devil and the deep blue sea
telan mati emak, luah mati bapa (Malay) if you swallow it your mother will die, if you throw it up your father will die
estar entre a espada e a parede (Portuguese) to be between the sword and the wall
tussen twee vuren staan (Dutch) to be between two fires
byt mezhdu molotom i nakovalnyei (Russian) between hammer and anvil
wählen zwischen Hölle und Fegefeuer, (German) to choose between trunk and bark or hell and purgatory
se correr o bicho pega e se ficar o bicho (Portuguese) if you run, the animal will catch you, if you stay it will eat you.
(Adam Jacot de Boinod is the author of The Meaning of Tingo and other Extraordinary Words from around the World by Penguin Books)
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