How-to Stuff
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How to Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth…in Spanish
by Cristen Conger | November 6, 2009
While chatting with a friend the other day, our conversation meandered its way to the subject of idioms. Specifically, how it’s virtually impossible to literally translate idioms into different languages and have any hope of conveying the original meaning. When learning a new language, slang and idioms are generally things that you pick up along the way once the linguistic puzzle pieces start fitting together snugly in your brain.
But since it’s Friday and I scarcely have time to become multilingual before the weekend commences, I decided to explore how different figures of speech change and shift in different languages. So for fun, take a gander at this sampler platter of select idioms and how their meanings translate in other languages and cultures.
Raining Cats and Dogs (via Omniglot)
Polish: It’s raining frogs from a wooden bucket
Spanish: It’s even raining husbands
Welsh: It’s raining old ladies and sticks
Greek: It’s raining chair legs
Kill Two Birds with One Stone (via WordReference Forums)
Russian: Kill two hares in one shot
Polish: Roast two roasts with the same fire
Serbian: Kill two flies in one slap
Jamaican Creole: Stab the goat and the sheep with the same knife
Get Hitched (via NPR)
Japanese: Solidify one’s body
Spanish: Hang oneself
Live the Life of Riley (via BoingBoing)
German: Live like a maggot in bacon
French: Break wind into silk
Unfortunately, “look a gift horse in the mouth” was nowhere to be found on my search. If anyone knows its idiomatic translation or any other fun ones, do share below. I’d be pleased as punch to learn them!
More on HowStuffWorks:
53 Slang Terms by Decade
Decoding 28 Medical Slang Terms
15 Tearms Popularized by Walter Winchell
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Matt Smith says:
Those are hilarious. The Spanish phrase for getting hitched is quite appropriate.
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Dani says:
I’ve never heard Live the Life of Riley before.
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Cristen Conger says:
“Life of Riley” is the same thing as living a life of luxury. Phrases.org says it originated from the Irish American community, and no one really knows who Riley is (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-life-of-riley.html).
I’ll take an anonymous Riley over maggots in bacon! -
“Common Phrases and Where They Come From” by Myron Korach offers two plausible explanations for whom the mysterious Riley might be:
James Stewart Riley, an American poet who lived in the latter half of the nineteenth century, during his younger years was regarded by some as a lazy dropout and was often seen stumbling through town inebriated. Mothers would tell their children not to live the “life of Riley”.
The other mentioned by Korach is “Mr. Reilly”, the main character in an Irish song by one Patrick Rooney in the late 1800’s. This Mr. Reilly was a dreamer and a stargazer who didn’t amount to much, but imagined what he would do if he were living life on the top.
Korach’s origins don’t correlate with anything on the phrases.org.uk site, so it all seems to be speculation at this point.
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Those are some great ones — thanks Treehugger!
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I was very pleased to find this blog.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoyed every word of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff in the future.
Herm
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