What are some (non-English) idioms, and what do they mean (both literally and in context)? Odd ones, your favorite ones - any and all are welcome. :)

For example, in English I might call someone a “good egg,” meaning they’re a nice person. Or, if it’s raining heavily, I might say “it’s raining cats and dogs.”

  • 0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    My favorite in Macedonian: My dick hurts. Translation: I don’t give a fuck. Also, the opposite is true, like if someone says “My dick doesn’t hurt at all about so and so”, it also means the same thing: I don’t give a fuck. Go figure 🤷 😂.

    • ALQ@lemmy.worldOP
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      9 months ago

      This is hilarious 😂 Is it something those of us without dicks would also say? (In English, I might still tell someone to “suck my dick,” despite not having one.)

      • 0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, girls say it around here too sometimes 😂, but some also tend to replace the dick oart with pussy, so girls would say “my pussy hurts” or “my pussy doesn’t hurt all” 😂.

    • liwott@nerdica.net
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      9 months ago

      This makes me think about the French “je m’en bats les couilles” (litt. “I beat my balls with it”). Some girls say it too, others say they beat their ovaries instead.

    • MudMan@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      We do “my dick sweats”, for the same thing, which I now realize sounds super gross.

      • 0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, it does 😂.

        We also have a phrase “dick dangles in cold water” which basically means nothing’s happening or something is irrelevant 😂.

    • wjrii@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      In English, over time, “I could care less” has come to have the exact same meaning as “I couldn’t care less.”

      Some people get wrapped around an axle (i.e. irrationally angry) about it, but i just mentally fill in some context myself: “I could care less… i suppose… if i really tried… but that’s not going to happen.”

      There’s no governing body for English. If you communicate the meaning and social cues that you intended, then it’s “right.” Of course, communicating social cues is sometimes where you can get in trouble using newer linguistic constructions.

      • 0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, I think the negation part in Macedonian was added later on, in newer generations because it sounded more “cool” I guess. But the phrase has been around for a very long time, probably like 70, 80 years, maybe even longer.