Share your amusing and/or interesting words, phrases, idioms, expressions, swears etc. from languages you know.

[Madologist]

Popped to mind that it would be interesting to gather imaginative idioms from the various international members here.

I'll start with a couple phrases of power:

Fin: Helvetin kuusitoista - hell's sixteen/sixteen from hell. It's a rather absurd one, but the next one kind of explains it.

Swe: Sjutton också - seventeen too/also. A rather silly one, indeed and I think the above one came to be because of this. Allegedly seventeen in the past was "Odin's number" so it essentially was a viking "taking god's name in vain".

Fin: Tuhannen pillun päreeksi - blown to smithereens, lit. "into shingles for thousand pussies". Päre - shingle can also refer to wooden bench covers used in saunas and not just construction material (usually we use linen cloth, though).

Distance measuring:

Fin: Peninkulma - Either dog's barking distance or sleigh-dog's travel distance, commonly thought of as the former. An old distance measurement of 6~ and then 10~ kilometres. It's believed to come from either penin (peni - dog, an archaic term) kuulema (kuulla - to hear, kuulema - something you hear/heard), meaning the distance from how faraway you can hear a dog barking from; the other theory is penin kuorma (burden) - referring then to the distance a sleighdog can run before needing to rest.

Fin: Poronkusema - Reindeer's piss(break). Distance a sleigh pulling reindeer can travel, before having to take a piss break, since a reindeer can't piss while running and would eventually get paralysed if didn't allow to have one. There is no set distance for it, as you can't really control nature like that, but it's thought to be around 5 klicks on average.

Miscellaneous aka whatever came to mind at the spot:

Fin: Suksi suohon - skii into a swamp (and drown). Not much to explain here.

Fin: Hukka periköön - I/we am/are doomed, lit. wolf shall inherit (me/us) or loss shall inherit. The saying most definitely refers to wolves, however was the word hukka - also meaning loss, peril, wastage - originally an euphenism applied to wolf or came to mean the beast, as it caused such? Whatsoever, it's a fun thing to say: wolves shall inherit me, for I am doomed! Likewise mennä hukkaan means "for something to be wasted", but it also literally translates to "something to go into a wolf". Similarly the more common and official word for wolf - susi - can mean something broken, inferior, a dud or for things to have gone wrong and to waste. "Pommi on susi, meni ruudit hukkaan" - the bomb was a dud, what a waste of gunpowder or the bomb was a wolf, the gunpowder went into a wolf .

Fin: Sopia kuin nyrkki silmään - (fits) like a glove, lit. fits like a fist into an eye. The eye socket is kinda fist sized, when you think about it, no?.

Fin: Viedä saunan taakse - Take behind the sauna (to be shot).

Fin: Potkaista tyhjää - kick the bucket, however, finns have bad motorfunctions due to being drunk, so they miss and instead "kick nothing".

Fin: Maailma - The world/universe, lit. Earth-Air or Land-Sky (maa - earth/land, ilma - air/sky). I've always thought Le Guin got inspired by Finns too.

Fin: Lohikäärme - Dragon, lit. salmon snake (lohi - salmon, käärme - snake). Our dragons are a bit different...

And finally as service to a local doom guy:

Fin: Moottorisaha - Chainsaw, lit. engine/motor saw (mootori - engine, saha - saw). We motor our saws, no chains needed!

 

[Madologist]

Fin: Jos ei viina, terva ja sauna auta, niin tauti on kuolemaksi/sitten koittaa hauta - If booze, tar and sauna won't help, then the illness is fatal/you'll end up in the grave. Sometimes just referred to as "viina, terva ja sauna". All ye olde treatment methods. Booze to numb the pain and wash the wounds, tar as medicine - ointment or consumed - and sauna as relaxation and rest, should they all fail, yerr doomed.

 

[undeed]

I'll give you something interesting.

In English-speaking countries, the idiom "pull someone's leg" means to tease or joke with someone by making them believe something that isn't true.
In Japan, the idiom 足を引っぱる or 足を引っ張る (pull someone's leg, lit.) means you are actively hindering someone's success or hindering the progress of things

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

Ger: 08/15 it refers to something that isn't remarkable at all, bar any originality. It comes from the Sturmgewehr 08/15, which was ascribed those qualities.

Ger: "Iss auf, sonst gibt es morgen schlechtes Wetter" (Eat up, or there will be bad weather tomorrow). It's an idiom in the north that is used to make kids eat their food, despite being rather nonsensical. It is a mistranslation from the low german idiom Plt: „Et dien Töller leddig, sonst givt dat schiet wedder“ (Eat your plate empty, or you will eat this shit again tomorrow), which has a much clearer cause and effect

 

[Madologist]

Ger: 08/15 it refers to something that isn't remarkable at all, bar any originality. It comes from the Sturmgewehr 08/15, which was ascribed those qualities.

Ger: "Iss auf, sonst gibt es morgen schlechtes Wetter" (Eat up, or there will be bad weather tomorrow). It's an idiom in the north that is used to make kids eat their food, despite being rather nonsensical. It is a mistranslation from the low german idiom Plt: „Et dien Töller leddig, sonst givt dat schiet wedder“ (Eat your plate empty, or you will eat this shit again tomorrow), which has a much clearer cause and effect

The northern call their dialect "high german" so what can you expect from some uppity pricks?

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

The northern call their dialect "high german" so what can you expect from some uppity pricks?

Actually high german is associated with the south, due to the north being lowlands and the south more elevated.
Our dialect is low german, though we are really good at standard german

 

[Madologist]

Actually high german is associated with the south, due to the north being lowlands and the south more elevated.
Our dialect is low german, though we are really good at standard german

Oh yeah that was how it was, I don't know how I got it confused with directions rather than height. Southrons be even more uppity pricks.