r/GlobalTalk • u/Maybe-Jessica • Jul 24 '21
[Question] What proverbs or sayings are the most stereotypical for your country or region? Question
Dutch: The best helmsmen stand on the shore. No explanation needed I think!(?)
We also don't do camel's backs broken by straws but instead have a drop to overflow our bucket.
Setting sails to the wind is a way of saying one has to adjust to (changing) circumstances.
What's hanging on my bike now? (Wat heb ik nou aan m'n fiets hangen?) means what the heck just happened?
My grandma knows all the sayings, I feel like I just know a handful yet since moving to Germany I've noticed just how many of them are water-, bicycle-, or sometimes colony-related. In the book The Wheel of Time, with quotes like "Well, this is a pot of fisherman's stew made only with the heads", Siuan Sanche was painted as the fisherman's daughter. I knew Robert Jordan based many things in WoT off of real cultures and religions, but for years little did I realize how close to home some of them might be!
If you don't have your country flair set, this might also be fun in quiz mode. See if people can guess where it's from :)
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u/Wild_Marker Argentina Jul 25 '21
"Mas al pedo que bocina de avión" which roughly translates to "More irrelevant than an airplane's claxon".
There's many more but it's late and I can't think of any :\
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u/SharkAttackOmNom Jul 25 '21
Claxon is a horn shaped noise maker, either on a bike, car, clown, or in this case the emergency alarms on an airplane.
I was completely unaware of the word until I watched “The Expanse” with subtitles on.
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u/fruskydekke Jul 25 '21
My favourite Norwegian expression is to say of someone that they "have been outside during a winter's night before" - it means that the person has dealt with serious difficulties/dangers before, and knows how to handle them. Because, of course, in a climate like Norway's, if you're outside, at night, in winter... you're in serious trouble.
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u/biledemon85 🇮🇪 Ireland Jul 25 '21 edited Jul 25 '21
Ireland has a few great ones, in English as well as in Gaeilge:
"Away with the fairies" - describing someone who is a bit crazy or a bit stupid/slow.
"Come here to me!" - listen up, I'm about to say something important.
"She was going 90!" - things have been extremely busy/frantic/exciting.
Bonus 'as Gaeilge':
"Níor bhris focal maith fiacal riamh" - which means something like "a kind word never broke a tooth". I.e. it's easy to say something nice and be pleasant towards others, so you should do so.
Edit: clarification
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u/ForestRanger42 Jul 24 '21
“He was born in third base, but thinks he hit a triple.” It’s a saying for people that think they have accomplished so much on their own, but they were born into wealthy families
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u/fireduck Jul 25 '21
I just told my daughter that she was born on third base. She seems puzzled. She is four.
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u/Indevo Aus/SA Jul 24 '21
“She’ll be right” -> all that is wrong will right itself
“Jy ma se poes” -> The day will bring you blessings :)
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u/Triseult Canada Jul 25 '21
I'm French Canadian, and there's a relatively recent idiom I love to insult someone's intelligence.
"C'est pas le pogo le plus dégelé de la boîte." Literally, he ain't the most defrosted corn dog in the box.
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u/adamj13 Jul 25 '21
"Well we're not here to fuck spiders." - stop wasting time / we're here for a reason / whatever someone just said about why you're there or what you're doing was stating the obvious.
I've also heard "Well I'm not here for a haircut. " as a less vulgar version.
(Also, love WoT and how everybody's got their own sayings based on where they're from and what they do. Though according to Elayne, Lini has enough different sayings to full a book.)
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u/BabyBabaBofski Jul 25 '21
Lmao we have a similar thing in the Netherlands where we use antfucking instead of nitpicking
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u/Staarjun Jul 25 '21
In France we use "enculer des mouches" which roughly translates to buttfucking flies. I think we have a thing with insects
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u/bel_esprit_ Jul 25 '21
You can’t chase 2 rabbits at once.
(Southern US)
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u/newgrl Jul 25 '21
The Southern US is just full of idioms. It's actually a pretty lyrical offshoot of the English language at times. Examples:
Nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs - very jumpy/nervous
His cornbread ain't done in the middle - He's dumb or being dumb
Act like you been to town before - stop acting like that, you're embarrassing
She was madder than a wet hen - very angry
He ain't got the good sense God promised a billy goat - lacking common sense
You're preaching to the choir - talking to people that already agree with you
This ain't my first rodeo - I've done this shit before
That dog won't hunt - That idea isn't going to work
Sweatin' like a whore in church - either it's very hot and humid or someone is very nervousAnd soooo many more.
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u/bel_esprit_ Jul 25 '21
Yes!!! There’s sooo many. My grandparents are very old school southern and they say so many great one liners all the time. I wish I could remember them all. It’s very similar to the older English language (british) and their little quips.
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u/bel_esprit_ Jul 25 '21
Here’s another one I just thought of that my granddad says:
“You can’t hold a good breed back”
It’s in reference to horses, like really well-bred horses will be excellent in racing (or anything else), but it also applies to people.
Like occasionally, regardless of socioeconomic class, you’ll get a really “well-bred” person. Like maybe their parents are poor, downtrodden, etc but if the genes and willpower of the kid are just right, he/she can overcome any circumstance and go far in life, bc they have that magical combo and are a “good breed.” Could also apply to kids born of higher status parents, but I’ve heard him say it about anybody that has that special “it factor.”
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u/bookcatbook Jul 26 '21
Here in the midwest we say “he ain’t got the common sense God gave a goose” as the equivalent of your billy goat one!
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u/DaijobuKitty Jul 25 '21
Question on the best helmsman. In the US we talk about a Monday morning quarterback. The game is on Sunday, so anyone saying how it should have/could have gone bette, or is generally saying how they would have done something better after the fact, is referred to as a Monday morning quarterback. A person who wasn’t there and is now judging the game in hindsight (hindsight is 20/20 is another that we have). It this the same thing that you’re trying to say about the helmsman ashore?
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u/fireduck Jul 25 '21
Similar to the armchair admirals.
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u/sch0f13ld Jul 25 '21
Or backseat drivers
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u/fireduck Jul 25 '21
At least back seat drivers are there and mostly the same real time event stream as the driver.
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u/Maybe-Jessica Jul 25 '21
A person who wasn’t there and is now judging the game in hindsight (hindsight is 20/20 is another that we have). It this the same thing that you’re trying to say about the helmsman ashore?
Quite similar but it's not necessarily after the fact (with hindsight). Just any time that someone who isn't actually involved in the actual work or decision making says how it should be done.
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u/Ringperm Jul 25 '21
When there is total mayhem and chaos, norwegians describe it as being totally Texas.
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u/KauaiRoosterParty Jul 25 '21
Hey, we say that in Colorado, USA too when there's a jackass on the road!
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u/daverave1212 Jul 25 '21
Guess the language:
"You're so afraid of burning yourself with soup you even blow into the yoghurt."
"You pulled me out of my watermelons"
"... is like an old woman and a machine gun"
"I told you, but you were like <Batman! Batman!>"
"A gift horse is not to have its teeth searched"
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u/newgrl Jul 25 '21
"A gift horse is not to have its teeth searched"
Not sure where you're from, but interestingly... the US has Never look a gift horse in the mouth meaning take your damn gift and don't ask any questions.
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u/A_Drusas Jul 25 '21
And the meaning is the same: you don't look a gift horse in the mouth means you don't check the quality of its teeth since it was a gift.
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u/Maybe-Jessica Jul 25 '21
Hmm, a country with
- people afraid to burn their mouths -> maybe a country that doesn't often have warm food because it's already super hot outside? No idea if that makes sense, not as if they don't have warm food in India.
- so many watermelons that you can get stuck in them -> "In 2017, China produced about two-thirds of the world total of watermelons."
- machine guns are not considered normal -> ruling out the USA here
- no idea what batman batman means
- gift horses' mouths is what the English saying speaks of iirc, Dutch too (although we have a word for animal mouth), I don't know other ones but I can rule those two out
So... China?
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u/Pink-socks Jul 25 '21
UK: it's not my cup of tea.
Meaning : I don't like / I don't want to do that
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u/lala989 Jul 25 '21
Nobody says half of these anymore but somehow I have a stock of them from a country upbringing:
"If it ain't broke don't fix it," "No sweat off my hide., "{he/she} Bit off more than he could chew" "The ball is in your court," "Back to the drawing board," "(Heard it) straight from the horse's mouth," "You can lead a horse to water (but you can't make it drink)" "Let the cat out of the bag," "beat around the bush," "Better late than never," "Hit the sack," "wild goose chase," "It aint over til the fat lady sings," "It takes one to know one" "Beating a dead horse,"
I'll leave some for someone else!
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u/FionaOlwen Jul 25 '21
I would also add, ‘ your eyes were bigger than your stomach’ meaning you’ve loaded up your plate too much and have leftovers/thought you could eat more than you can… it’s hard to gage portions when you’re hungry:/
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u/monsieurpommefrites Jul 25 '21
You’ll be pleased to know that most of these are used where I am in Alberta, Canada.
At least by me that’s for sure.
“That’s how she rolls.” Is a popular one, it means ‘this is sometimes a result, though negative, it’s not unrealistic.’
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u/foxthechicken Jul 25 '21
"Champagne taste on a beer budget"
"Don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining"
"He couldn't tell his ass from a hole in the ground"
"Let's not make this a federal case"
"He's not the brightest bulb in the box" or "He's not the sharpest pencil in the box"
"It's not rocket science" or "brain surgery"
In the words of the great Sterling Archer, I had no idea how heavily we rely on idioms!
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u/SharkAttackOmNom Jul 25 '21
“Rule of thumb.” Would probably fit your list. I found out a couple years ago it’s not that innocent of a saying. Refers to some areas making it illegal to beat your wife unless if the stick you used was thinner than your thumb. The rule of thumb.
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u/vercingetorix08 Jul 25 '21
There are others to be sure, but boondocks saints (movie) popularized it. Should have been rule of wrist!
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u/biledemon85 🇮🇪 Ireland Jul 25 '21
"hit the sack" is such a typical phrase for an Irish person. I wonder where it originated...
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u/lala989 Jul 28 '21
Me too, I didn't realize its origins I wonder of it's something to do with poverty/potatoes you know, like thats the only place to sleep. Ive never wondered before but it could be kind of grim.
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u/Affectionate-Job-398 Jul 25 '21
It will be alright Meaning: GOD DAMM IT! hopefully this will be better.
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u/BraveNewMeatbomb Jul 26 '21
From German "the cow on the ice" or "we have to get the cow off the ice". If your cow is out on the froizen lake that is a very dangerous and precarious situation, needs a combination of urgency and finesse to come through unscathed.
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u/Grisuu112 Jul 25 '21
"Ei tule lasta eikä paskaa", literally transalted "There's neither a child nor a shit coming". Used when something is not working out no matter how hard you have tried.