this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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No such thing. Ask away!

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It could also just be English if you only speak English.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago

To show the goats.

Lithuanian: rodyti ožius.

Means to cry, fight or roll on the ground when you didn't get what you wanted.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

A couple of figures of speech from Mexico that I find equally nonsensical:

Simón: Means yes.

Nelson: Means no.

Mátala(o) (kill it): to finish a drink or a snack.

Jalar (pull): To go somewhere or agree to a plan. You may also hear its long form "¿jalas o te pandeas?" (do you pull or do you bend?) meaning "are you coming or not?".

¿Se va hacer o no se va a hacer la carnita asada? (Are we doing or not the carne asada?): It means "Is the plan still on?"

Chapulinear: There's no literal translation for this one but I guess it would be like "grasshopper-ing". It means seducing a friend's partner.

Tirando el perro (throwing the dog): Flirting.

Arma la vaca (build the cow): Gathering money for a small collective purchase.

Huele a gas (Smells like gas): To leave. That's kind of like an advanced figure of speech because it comes from Fuga, which in and of itself is a figure of speech meaning "to leave quickly". It literally translates to "leak", as in a gas line leak, because you're supposed to leave in a way that mimics gas leaking from a pipe. So, when we need to leave but not as quickly, we don't say "leak", we say "smells like gas" implying there might be a leak.

Here's a modern one:

Quesadilla: Means "that's so sad" because it sounds like Qué sad (illa)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I knew a girl who tiraba el perro al novio de su amiga, so I guess she also was trying to chapulinear xD

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

"Пиян като мотика". Translates from Bulgarian to "Drunk as a mattock". I remember asking my dad about this phrase when I was a kid - "Why? Do mattocks drink?" - and he answered "No, they fall down". Classic dad.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There's an expression in French, "enculage de mouches". Literally means "fucking flies in the ass" and, figuratively, refers to being impossibly pedantic and nitpicky. Closest equivalent in English would be "splitting hairs" I think

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Oh we got that here too "flue knepperi" fly fucking

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In Egyptian arabic we have

The world is a cucumber one day it's in your hand, the other it's in your ass

(Kama todeen todaan) Literal translation: As you give debt, you will owe debt. Alternative is as you judge you will be judged. Basically what goes around comes around

Do you have a feather on your head? When some one asks for special treatment, this is usually a response to that. Feather on his head is a reference to the sultan.

We stayed quiet so he came in with his donkey. Or we let him be, so he came with his donkey The proverb means don't let people walk all over you

Show me the width of your shoulders Something I heard a lot growing up, basically means go away. To show the width of your shoulders, you show your back, hence the expression

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

The first one is absolutely hilarious!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

C'est la vie. Because it is what it is.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

Ukrainian "не лізь поперед батька в пекло" ("don't rush to hell before your father") - a mix of "don't be foolish / try to prove yourself / hurt yourself doing so" and also "let experienced people do their job / lead".

Also Ukrainian "або пан або пропав" ("Either [you become] a lord, or you disappear"), an important risky choice, or sometimes used as YOLO of yesteryear.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

"I have to see a man about a horse."

It means you're going to the bathroom.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’ve heard the size of the animal denotes how long they will take and/or how urgently they need to leave.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Brb, I gotta go take a Brontosaurus.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I've always heard this used to mean "I've gotta leave quickly" rather than going to bathroom; but I'm British so it might not hold the same meaning of you're not also!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

When I was young, myself and a group of friends were being accosted by a disheveled man on our walk home from the bar. We didn't really understand what he was saying, but we were able to discern one phrase, as he told us to "Put the pussy on a chain wax"

We had no idea what it meant, and thought it was hilarious, so we'd oft repeat it at random.

Thinking about it now, I suddenly realize what he meant. He was referring to the woman in our group, telling us to pimp her out, by putting her up against a chain-link fence that were so plentiful in rough neighborhoods where we grew up.

So now I'm telling you, so that if you ever encounter this gentleman, you'll know what he's talking about 😶‍👍

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

If you ever see that guy, you better draxx them sclounce!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Argentine here! Some of my favourites:

" Para andar a los pedos más vale cagarse "

Roughly translates to: "better shit yourself instead of going farting around" Worth noting: "andar a los pedos" also means being in a hurry.

" A caballo regalado no se le mira los dientes "

Roughly translates to: "Don't look at the teeth of a gifted horse", meaning you don't look for defects in things that have been handed to you.

" Siempre hay un roto para un descosido "

I think the English equivalent is "there's a lid for every pot".

" Lo atamos con alambre "

Translates to: "tie it down with wire". Usually refers to get something going even if it's barebones or a shaky fix.

I'll be thinking of more and maybe drop another comment later.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I like the horse one way more than the English saying “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Yours makes way more sense

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

“Don’t look at the teeth of a gifted horse”

“don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Yours makes way more sense

Um, it's the same statement: One could be a direct translation of the other. How can one make more sense?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

One is phrased with specificity, implying the action is extremely particular. The other one makes it sound like the horse is likely to bite you if you’re looking in its mouth too closely

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

So I think the "horse is likely to bite you if you’re looking in its mouth too closely" is an assumption we both had about this phrase. I grew up in the suburbs and rarely saw horses so I assumed this phrase was about it possibly bitting. However I now live in a more rural area and horses are pretty sweet and the only reason anyone looks in their mouth is to make sure they're healthy or figure their age. I'm guessing you, like me, also grew up not around horses so we assumed the English version means something different than it probably did in the past when horses were common place.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I always thought it was about how good were the horse's teeth, since older horses usually get dental health issues and that usually has to do with how much care it had and / or it's age.

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