this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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In Finnish we have "kissanristiäiset" (literally means a cat's christening), which means some trivial and meaningless celebration/event.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (4 children)

One American one I like is "I'm going to see a man about a horse" in regards to going to the bathroom.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

In the uk I've heard "I'm going to see a man about a dog". (she went smoking)

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

Is THAT what that idiom means? I knew it was said on exiting a room, I never realized it was more specific than that.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

That's another one with a British origin (originally "see a man about a dog"). Still widely used in the UK to refer to leaving for any unspecified reason, although this is often to go to the toilet. (Also was used in the US during prohibition to refer to going for a drink.)

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

I'm not Thai, but they have an idiom that something will happen one afternoon in their next reincarnation.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

"public static void main string args", which translates to "i am going to start speaking now"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

For German, there is a really cool series of YouTube Shorts starting with this one:

https://youtube.com/shorts/Cod-d9hh55c?si=f481mc2DC0uYQTEt

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Not mine but I had a Dutch professor who would say "it's like washing duck's feet" to refer to something that was a pointless exercise or wasted effort. I always thought it was funny but can't find anything on the Internet about it now so perhaps it's not very common.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (4 children)

english:

"daddy" is some older man you're sexually attracted to

also, "daddy" is your biological father

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

If you’re in a scenario where you need to specify between them, “zaddy” is a replacement for the former

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

In Czechia we have some interesting phrases about other countries: It's a Spanish village to me - I don't understand it. (For example I don't know how to program, it's a Spanish village for me.) He drinks like a person from Denmark - He drinks a lot of alcohol.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

"yeah nah" - "that is a bad idea/I don't want to do that"

As in "hey mate, want to skive off and grab a quick one while the boss is away?" "Yeah nah, got too much stuff to do aye".

Contrast with the less common formation "yeah nah, yeah" - "that is a bad idea but I want to do it anyway"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Not sure if it's a popular idiom or something my mom made up, but she would always say, "mas fácil cuadrar 100 micos para un foto".

It literally translates to "easier to gather 100 monkeys for a photo", and she used it whenever something was particularly difficult.

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