Hola / Salut / Hi! - Here's an idea.
Hey there, nice to meet you all.
I mostly speak English and my native language, but I can have a decent conversation in both French and Spanish.
I was thinking about making this a thread where we could post an interesting expression in our language and then translating it in English, just to see how crazy it sounds.
8 years ago by bogdan
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I'll put my favourite French one, which is never taught to people learning French!
"Il pleut comme vache qui pisse" = "it's raining like a pissing cow" - strong rain
"Ton père n'est pas vitrier" = "your father isn't a window maker" - your father doesn't make windows>windows are transparent>your father made you therefore you are not a window>therefore you are not transparent. To be used when someone is blocking your vision and is oblivious about it (for example someone standing in front of the tv).
Je ne connaissais pas ni une ni l'autre. J'ai acheté en France une revue des expressions préférés des français et 90% étaient commune avec le Québec mais ces deux-là n'y étaient pas.
Une locale qu'on apprendre certainement pas à ceux qui apprennent le français :
« Avec bien de la volonté et de crachat, un cheval fourre un chat » = "With a lot of will and spit a horse fucks a cat" (the meaning is "don't give up!").
Je crois que "Il pleut comme vache qui pisse" vient de la région Bretonne.
I'll start, there are two expressions I can think of:
"A umbla cu cioara vopsită" = "Walking around with the dyed crow" - to lie, to deceive
"A fugi mâncând pământul" = "Running eating dirt" - to run like hell
Eating dirt because you are running so fast, I can visualize. Would never have equated a dyed crow with lies/deceit. Very interesting :)
From Turkish: "Her sakallıyı deden sanma" = "Don't think every bearded men is your grandfather" "Eşek siken, osuruğuna katlanır" = "One who fucks a donkey, also should endure the donkey's fart"