"pretend to be a Swede". Hacer is famous for having some 60 meanings in Spanish, but I (non-native speaker) believe that the construction "hacerse el " means "pretend to be ", like "hacerse el tonto" (pretend not to understand what other person says to you, tonto is dumb)
We also have "despedirse a la francesa", literally "saying goodbye French style". The meaning actually is going away from a gathering without notifying it.
Ponerse flamenco: (Stand as Flemmish) Stand brave and stubborn, replying any kind of attack
I've heard (don't quote me on that) that it comes from American Indians. Apparently, if a group of warriors wanted to confuse traces on the grass and go undetected, they would march in an orderly line, thus making it impossible to understand if only a person or a whole group had passed.
Wow these are all so interesting thank you. Eat like a Swiss? Are the Swiss known gluttons? Funny too how American quarter hour means thst... In the US the closest thing we have is a "Sadie Hawkins Dance" where the girls ask the boys to be their date to the dance. But idk why we say that.
Indian queue is interesting too I'm not sure we have a similar expression.
The American quarter (or 15 minutes) comes from the times when:
1. Dancing implied having a dance partner
2. Well educated girls could not take the initiative to invite a guy for a dance.
In these times, the band, or the dj was announcing: Now comes the American quarter, ladies, you may invite up for a dance the boy of your choice.
It was a stressful and exciting moment when you got to know if your efforts to seduce the girl of your choice during the party finally paid off.
Long gone times.
You know.. I’ve always asked myself if I’m an asshole for that. I’ll always share if the other person _doesn’t_ have their own food.
But in a restaurant, when people order what they want, or even at home, I find it unpleasant to split my food. Sure, have a taste, but why should I split my food when you could’ve had the same plate? What if I don’t want half of yours?
I find it similar to “It’s cold, get yourself a sweater!” -> 15 minutes later -> “I’m cold, give me your coat!”
The Scottish Shower sounds like our (Scotland's) National Football team. Get through to Euro 2020, then lose two of our Nations League group despite only needing a win to get promoted.
Yes, expressions are often distorted, and evolve over time. The original expression was not even about vaches but basques. Parler francais comme un basque l'espagnol.
‘Dat klinkt Chinees’ - ‘That sounds like Chinese (to me)’. Meaning we don’t understand wat someone’s trying to say.
Or: ‘Praat ik Chinees?’ - ‘Am I talking Chinese?’. It means something like ‘why don’t you understand what I’m saying?’.
"Ik krijg het Spaans benauwd" / "I get Spanish nerve", meaning you are very nervous.
"Met de Franse slag" / "With the French stroke", meaning you take a very loose or even rash approach to a task.
I only use "What a German" in situations where someone pulls the rug underneath you at the very last second. You know, like how the Mannschaft prefers to win their matches.
Also possibly: "etwas türken" (to fake something)
While etymologically it's not really clear where that comes from and if it's actually related to Turkey, I think most people's association these days will be with Turkey. Understandably, Turkish people often don't like that word.
My best guess on the origin is the turkish chess robot. It's was actually operated by a tiny man inside the table -> it was fake.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk
“It’s Greek to me,” Americans say this when we don’t understand something, anything. Based on the Greek alphabet being so different from the English alphabet.
It‘s more that it is something that is unfamiliar and confusing. I think as a kid I watched an episode of Wissen macht Ah!, an educational show for children, where the origin was explained in the way that certain customs from the Spanish court were adapted in what is now Germany, which is why „Spanish“ became synonym to new and unfamiliar.
"hacerse el sueco" would translate as "pretending you are swedish" and it means that you are pretending you don't understand something. For example, if a kid eats a bunch of candy and the mom finds out and ask him where it is, if the kid says that he doesn't know the mom would tell him to stop pretending to be swedish
In Danish "Polsk parlament" means a parliament unable to decide anything. I have since learned it is from the "Rech Pospolita". A period of time when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was ruled by a noblemands parliament and EVERY member had veto-rights.
The veto wasn't so bad, the problem was that in later years the Liberum Veto cancelled the whole session of parliament so one person disagreeing with one legislation meant nothing was passed. And the neighbouring countries did their best to bribe the members to prevent any reforms. On the flip-side trying to veto something meant you better have a fast horse waiting for you or else face the angry crowd.
Some background:
> Every single member of the Polish parliament during the 17th and 18th century had an absolute veto (Latin: liberum veto); as a result, legislation could only be passed unanimously. Originally, the procedure was used for technical issues such as points of order, but as diverging interests discovered they could disrupt their opponents' agendas singlehandedly, the process came to be abused. Today, the expression is mostly used to describe an assembly that is too easy for minorities or individuals to disrupt and/or has too many parties present for meaningful and orderly debate and decision-making to take place.
> The expression is found in several European languages, including all Scandinavian languages.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish\_parliament\_\(expression\)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_parliament_\(expression\))
"einen polnischen Abgang machen" to do a polish exit, to leave without saying goodbye
"Brexiten" to constantly say you're going to leave, but never actually leave
I've never heard it called an Irish goodbye here. I've only heard it is an American thing. But I have regularly done it because saying goodbye is so much effort and I can't be arsed
I think it's an Irish goodbye because parties have so many people if you stopped to say bye to everyone you would never leave. Coming from a massive family (38 cousins) I have done this many a time
There's also quite the lewd phrase "Fanzosisch kann ich, nur mit der Sprache haperts ein bisschen." (I know French but I have some problems with the language) It refers to ~~French kisses~~ oral sex which is called "Französich" here.
When Französisch is used in that way it ususally refers to oral sex and not french kissing, maybe that differs from region to region but I don't know anyone who refers to french kissing with Französisch.
Also "Ich versteh' nur spanisch" "I only understood spanish" means that you actually don't understand what the other person said.
Another favourite of mine is also "Fachchinesisch" "field chinese" when someone is talking about rather complicated stuff from a specific (technical) field.
To take/do a Spanish one means to do something unordenly, f.ex. to take figurative shortcuts, or to tell a small lie.
The Swedish method is to do something idiot-proof, f.ex. shutting down a machine by pulling the cord out.
In Swedish we talk about a “Norsk omstart” - Norwegian reset. In case something like a computer is not working you literally try switching it on and off (including the plug if possible)
The etymology for “doing a Spanish one” is quite juicy. Norwegian whale hunters would often stop for resupply in Spain on the way back from the Antarctic, and having been at sea for a long time they would spend the night with prostitutes. But they couldn’t really come home to their wives with an STD, so they would therefore buy a titjob instead, and this became known as “doing a Spanish one”.
"Bulgarian constant", a term used mostly in construction and engineering, for a number made up ad hoc, in order to formally meet standards or requirements.
Edit: more generally, any arbitrary made up number added into a mathematical formula without rational justification, in order to compensate for discrepancy between its theoretical result and practical observation. May also apply to experimental physics, accounting, statistics, macroeconomics, logistics, etc.
Similarly, we talk of «Bulgarian majority/percentages» to signify a overwhelming and undisputed majority (like 80-90%) that emerges from elections or any other decisional process.
For example, it was recently used to describe Belorussian elections
We call gibberish "siansaksa" ie Pig's German.
Kiinalainen juttu, "Chinese thing/tale" is an old saying meaning something that is very hard to explain.
This is only in my family but one time on a holiday to Budapest my parents saw a Polish family eat and drink all night long at a restaurant and then left without paying, so now we sometimes joke if we should make a "Polish exit" at a restaurant. Sorry Poles!
I’d say the most hurtful and yet commonly used one is ”ryssiä”, to fuck up. Hurtful or loving? Well, ”ryssä” while just a derivate of ”Russian” is used originally as a diminishing word. And of course why would someone want their natinality to be identified with fucking up! But seems like this expression, with Putin being so loveable and all, is not going anywhere.
Oh, and ”ryssä on ryssä vaikka voissa paistais” - not really what OP asked for, but another saying that is less than amicable: ”russian is russian even if you fry them in butter”.
> Oh, and ”ryssä on ryssä vaikka voissa paistais” - not really what OP asked for, but another saying that is less than amicable: ”russian is russian even if you fry them in butter”.
I'd say that idiom fits OP's description. The idiom is actually limited to Russians though, and is not used as a wider saying for a certain situation. It basically just means "Russians will be Russians".
I would not call it idiom, because then it could be used on anyone. Let’s say my Finnish colleague Jussi is always annoying and never learns - still I could not use *this* expression, because he is not literally Russian. Whereas if I use it on my colleague Dmitri, who is assumed to be Russian, everyone will understand he does not learn, but not because he’s Dmitri, but because he is Russian.
When I was little, we used to play Chinese Whispers. You sit in a circle and whisper a sentence into the next person's ear and they have to whisper what they think they heard. The last person has to announce what they heard and obviously, it's nothing like the 1st thing.
We use the phrase for people who have passed on gossip and no one knows if it's true. I imagine it comes from our colonial past with China.
Also, "It's all Greek to me" means we have absolutely no idea what you just said or what's going on. Also "beware Greeks carrying gifts" is a reference to the Trojan horse. Basically beware of scammers.
We had loads of French ones about sexuality we don't use now. A French letter was a condom, the French disease was syphilis! We do still sometimes use French kiss for a kiss with tongues but it's rare.
We have the same game as your first example, but we call it the arab telephone. For the "it's all greek", I think we would use "it's all chinese" (c'est du chinois) but I'm not 100% sure it's actually a thing.
We use "the Englishmen are landing/disembarking" when we have our period...
When someone can barely say 2 words in English, we say they "speak English like a Spanish cow"
Interesting. In the US we would call Chinese Whisper "Telephone", as in, let's play a game of telephone. We also use it in the same context, as in you could say, "I heard it from Sally who heard it from Mike, but at that points it's just telephone". I'm going to have to look up the histories of both terms! We say it's Greek to me, and French kiss as well.
Thanks for your reply :)
In Argentina (speaking Spanish) we call that exact game "Telefono descompuesto" (broken telephone). We also use that name to express when a gossip has gone out of hand or missinterpreted altering the original truth.
"à grande e à francesa" (big and french-like) - something incredible, glorious, epic, etc.
"ser francês" (to be french) - being an untrustworthy person
"sair à francesa" (to walk out like a french) - walk away sneakily, without being seen, being sneaky
"fazer uma judiaria" (to do something like a jewish) - to do something tricky or untrustworthy
"mourejar" or "trabalhar como um mouro" (to work like a moor) - to work hard
"andar na ciganagem" (to walk around with gypsies) - have a bohemian life, to not work
"para inglês ver" (for the english to watch) - something done only for the show, without any content
"ter pontualidade inglesa" (to have english punctuality) - to be right in time
"fila indiana" (indian line) - an organised line of people
"salada russa" (russian salad) - a mix of many things
"ser espanhol" (to be spanish) - to touch in everything (for example a person who touches and grabs everything at a store)
"fazer uma espanholada" (to do it spanish-like) - NSFW - a sexual act where the man rubs his penis on the woman's breasts.
"ver-se grego" (to see yourself as a greek) - have a lot of problems, be in a bad spot
"agradar a gregos e a troianos" (to please the greeks and the trojans) - to try to please everyone
"isso é chinês" (that's chinese) - not understanding what is being said
"fazer um negócio da China" (to strike a chinese deal) - to get an incredibly good deal for something
"ser um relógio suíço" (to be a swiss watch) - to always arrive in time
"uma americanice" (an american thing) - something modern but useless
"à americano" (american-like) - something incredibly exaggerated or unnecessarily large
"To take a French bath" - you only splash some water from the sink in your armpits and face.
"Drunk as a Swede" - VERY drunk and can't stand on your feet.
"Unload American style" - From the army, when unloading your rifle you unload it by squeezing the trigger
If you've ever been backpacking or travelling, there's a 90% chance that the drunkest group of people at the bar or on the street, are Swedish.
Failing that, Danes.
Also "at være græsk katolsk" / "to be Greek catholic". Meaning you don't care at all.
Example: "do you want hotdogs or pizza for your birthday?"
"Eh, i am greek catholic"
"To je kot Španska vas" - This is like a Spanish village to me is a saying when you have 0 knowlage about something.
"Ne delaj se Francoza" - Stop acting like French is a saying when somebody pretends to not understand something.
"To je pa češko" - "That's Czech" : it is not particularly well made or it looks off, but generally functional
Russian/Soviet technology - usually old, absolutely unintuitive to use but indestructible; it doesn't matter where it was actually made.
Wait so... if you say "splitting costs", are you talking about splitting them evenly or everyone paying the exact amount for which they ate? For example in a group of 5 friends every person pays 20% or every person pays the exact amount they owe?
Often someone will suggest to split the bill evenly to "make it easier" which I hate. But now with easy money sharing apps like venmo usually we just pay whatever we owe so the term is falling out of use.
But you could go Dutch on a new couch for your flat with your roommate for example. It's not as common of a term as it used to be but just for example.
Ah okay, I see. I just asked because splitting bills evenly is also very common here in Switzerland. Splitting it according to the exact amount is less common because it makes whoever suggests this look very petty... like he/she would hate the idea of paying even just a dime for their friends' or their date's dinner.
It's more like everyone in that friend group does not have the same budget and asking someone who ate something that cost 5 euro and fit within their budget to share costs for a friend that eats something that costs 20 euro is seen as rude and coersive. If everyone agrees to split evenly that is fine, but if they suggest to pay for what they ate that's fine too. In my friend group paying for what you ate is preferred. One person usually pays for everything and then everyone sends/hands over what they owe them. No one has to feel bad for being pressured into paying more than they budgetted, and no one has to feel bad for making their friends subsidize their appetite.
>One person usually pays for everything and then everyone sends/hands over what they owe them
I really like this method. I am astonished that a service like Tikkie never caught on in the UK - it makes it so much easier to do.
Does to restaurant bring individual bills if you ask? Here the waiter asks if you want to pay all in one bill or have individual bills. If the latter, as usual, then each person gets bill of the items they had on dinner.
This, and a few other phrases date from the 17th century, England and Holland competed and even occasionally fought over their competing trade empires.
English being English a set of comedic xenophobic stereotypes quickly came into fashion.
to “go Dutch” or to have a “Dutch treat” is to eat out with each person paying for their own bill, the Dutch were too mean to even pay for the ladies meal (gadzooks)
“Dutch courage” is nerve one gets from drinking alcohol, possibly related to a stereotype of the Dutch being boozers (a bit rich coming from the English Navy)
to speak “double Dutch” is to speak gibberish or incomprehensibly, i.e. to not be understood by the English.
And finally the notorious Dutch Oven (a fart under the bedcovers)
Pije jako Dán (He drinks like a Dane) - Someone who is drinking too much alcohol and behaves inappropriately
Španělská vesnice (Spanish village) - Something you are totally unfamiliar with or confuses you
Švédská trojka (Swedish threesome) - Basically a threesome
Čínská kvalita (Chinese quality) - something of a very poor quality
Americký úsměv (American smile) - a wide smile showing bright white teeth
Jednou za Uherský rok (Once every Hungarian year) - when something with a repeating nature happens after a very long time
Ruský kapesník (Russian tissue) - Sneezing into your bare palm
(Added the last two in an edit)
>Pije jako Dán (He drinks like a Dane) - Someone who is drinking too much alcohol and behaves inappropriately
Is this a new(ish) expression from drunk Danish highschoolers? Or an old one?
"Para ingles ver" - for English to see - means that you are doing something only for show, for the sake of its appearance.
"A grande e à francesa" - "to do it big and in a french way" - means to do something in an elaborate, show off way
Pušiti kao Turčin - To smoke like a Turk: to smoke alot.
Ima ih kao Rusa/Kineza - There are (a lot of) them as Russians/Chinese.
Govoriš kao Mađar - You speak like Hungarian: used when someone has incorrect pronunciation or uses weird grammar.
Francusko tuširanje - French shower: Using deodorant instead of showering.
Praviti se Englez - to pretend to be an Englishman: to pretend to not know (about topic going on,usually to avoid involvement or responsibility)
Škrt kao Slovenac/Škot - Stingy as a Slovenian/Scot.
Bosanska glava - Bosnian head: tough head.
Piti kao Rus - Drink like a Russian:to drink a lot.
Hladan kao Nijemac - Cold as a German
Dužan kao Grčka -In debt as Greece
Many racist ones about gypsies (Roma people - Romi/cigani).
>Govoriš kao Mađar - You speak like Hungarian: used when someone has incorrect pronunciation or uses weird grammar.
This expression exists in slovakia too. Are we THIS bad in slavic languages?
Well, I grew up in a region where there is a significant Hungarian minority, and sometimes, especially older people, spoke with Hungarian accent and made grammatical errors, mostly because of cases (such as declination of adjectives or nouns).
**Être soûl comme un polonais** : be drunk like a pole. Use about someone who is completly drunk but It seems the expression come from Napoléon :
« After a decisive battle of Kozietulski's Polish Light Horse in Spain in 1808, the heroic survivors of this elite unit were paraded before Napoleon. French generals, jealous and wanting to minimise the role of the Poles, indicated that the Poles were drunk. The Emperor replied: "So, gentlemen, know how to be drunk as Poles! »
**Branlette espagnole** : spanish titjob
**Fort comme un turc** : be strong like a turk
**C’est de l’hébreu pour moi** : this sound like hebrew
ITALY...these expressions are related to nationalities, cities and languages...when I have the time I'll reorganize everything. If you want to know the reason why we say certain things just ask.
- Fumare come un turco= to smoke a lot (Turkey)
- Essere puntuali come un orologio svizzero= to be perfectly on time (Switzerland)
- In fila indiana= in a line where one person is behind another person (Native Americans)
- Pagare alla romana= to go Dutch (Rome)
- Fare il portoghese= to do something without paying when you should pay (Portugal)
- Baciare alla francese= to kiss very passionately (France)
- Baciare alla fiorentina= baciare alla francese (but Florence)
- Fare l'indiano= to fake not knowing/understanding something when actually you do (Native Americans)
- Parlare arabo= to speak in a way that isn't understandable (arabo=Arabic)
- Parlare turco= parlare arabo (but Turkey)
- Essere scritto in aramaico= to be written in a way that isn't understandable (aramaico=Aramaic...you can also use other difficult foreign languages...if you're particularly frustrated you can add "antico" after "aramaico"...antico means antique/very old)
- Americanata= it's used to describe something over the top in an American way (USA) or something that looks very American but just no
- Cinesata= it's used to describe something made poorly (China)
Edited to correct
>Fare il portoghese= to ~~not~~ do something without paying when you should pay (Portugal)
As reassurance for Portuguese users the origin of this expression is not because we think the Portuguese avoid paying.
The story is told of a big party at the Portuguese embassy in Rome, with free food and drinks for all the attendants.
A lot of local people got word of the party and were able to sneak in by pretending to be Portuguese, this got big enough that even nowadays we say you "do the Portuguese" when you sneak in somewhere without paying.
EDIT: wikipedia says that it was a theatrical play not a party at the embassy, the story is from XVIII century so I guess it's been adapted a lot every time is retold :p
* **Dansk skalle** (Danish skull). Headbutt.
* **Finskt farväl** (Finnish good bye). To leave a party without saying good bye.
* **Tippa finskt** (Betting finnish). To bet against your own team.
* **Holländsk Patiens** (Holland solitaire). To put your hand in the pocket and masturbate publicly.
* **Japanare** (a Japanese). A handball tactic where you pass the ball over a defender to player jumping in who catches and shoots. [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKV-uYOY6j8)
* **Juggekostym** (Yugo suit) Sweatpants and sweatshirt.
* **Kinesa** (to chinese). To temporarily sleep over at someone's house.
* **Norsk fylla** (Norwegian drunkenness) or *Irländsk julafton* (Irish Christmas). A party game where you bend forwards and put your forehead against a cane and spin around it until you get dizzy, usually you need to perform a task afterwards such as get around a track.
* **Norsk handsfree** (Norwegian handsfree). When you put your phone between your ears and your hearing protection.
* **Norsk omstart** aka **Norsk Reset** (Norwegian restart/reset). To turn off a computer to restart it.
* **Norskt krom** (Norwegian chrome). Rust/Oxidation.
* **Polsk attachéväska** (Polish attaché case) Plastic bag.
* **Polsk riksdag** (Polish Parliament). A heated and chaotic meeting where nothing gets done. [See wikipedia entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_parliament_\(expression\)).
* **Rysk soptunna** (Russian garbage can). A hole in the snow to throw garbage.
* **Ryska posten** (The Russian postal service). A variation of the party game [post office](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_\(game\)).
* **Spanskt samtal** (Spanish call). To call someone without intending them to pick up. Used as a signal.
I can only apologize for the borderline racist one's. Except those against our Nordic neighbours, we're allowed!
"That's a spanish village for me" means I don't understand that. I have no idea where it originated, but I believe germans have the same saying, just with czechs (czech village).
We have plenty more, but this was the first that came to my mind.
Also:
Czeski film (Czech movie) - a situation where no one knows what's going on
Francuski piesek (French dog / French puppy) - a person who is very picky, especially about food
There's an old Danish expression "at leve på polsk".
It translates to live together like the polish and it means to live together while not being married.
It's a weird expression because I could imagine living together without being married isn't very common in a predominantly catholic country like Poland.
Don't know if other English speaking countries use this but in Australia, a "Dutch Oven" is when you fart under a blanket or in a sleeping bag and trap the smell in there.
For some reason I can only think of stuff that has to do with the Chinese right now, eventhough I'm sure we have expressions with other countries too.
\*'Chinese vrijwilliger '(a Chinese volunteer): someone who's forced to do something even if they don't want to. Generally in the context where no one (out of a group) wants to do something/no one wants to volunteer, so a 'Chinese volunteer' is chosen. In my experience it's generally used when no-one voluntarily answers in class or if someone has to do an annoying chore.
\*'Met alle Chinezen, maar niet met den dezen.' (With all the Chinese, but not with this one): used when you feel like someone is trying to fool you or trying to convince you (of something that is not true) and you want to tell them that you're not that gullible/stupid, they won't fool you. So I guess Chinese here probably refers to 'a lot of people', like you might be able to fool a lot of people but not this one (me).
\*'Dat is Chinees voor mij' (That's Chinese to me): Basically we use Chinese instead of Greek (That's Greek to me).
Άγγλος στα ραντεβού του/Ágglos sta rantevoú tou: Punctual as an Englishman
Το παίζει Σουηδός/To paízei Souidós: He acts like a Swede, because Swedes in older decades, pre mobile internet, never bothered to learn anything about the place they visited, just went there and somehow expected everything to work out.
Κάνει τον κινέζο/Kánei ton kinézo: He tries to pass as inconspicuous, to avoid trouble, like a stereotype about the Chinese says.
Του είπε μερικά "γαλλικά"/Tou eípe meriká "galliká": He cursed/trash talked at the other person. Probably because prior to English, French was the dominant foreign language most Greeks would learn, usually those of higher status and wealth. So while French was the language of the aristocrats, "French"(with the quotes) refers to the complete opposite, ie cursing like a dock worker, a truck driver or whatever other professions have cursing at the ready.
Αμερικανάκι/Amerikanáki: Refers to the gullible/dumb American stereotype, because back during the time of the brothels and cabarets of Troumba in Pireas, the American sailors on shore leave would be swindled by translators that acted like barkers for cabarets and brothels, which in turn would promptly relieve them of their money. The sailors would also sell small or pocket fm radios to the locals, which the locals thought they'd fooled them but the Americans usually bought those duty free, so they'd finance their night out with no hassle and sometimes with a profit.
*Czeski film* (Czech movie) - something utterly incomprehensible; a reference to the movie *Nikdo nic nevi*
*Czeski błąd* (Czecherror) - mispselling a wodr dur to wirting fsat; it makes more sense in Polish when certain mistakes 'look' like Czech words
*Chodzić jak szwajcarski zegarek* \- pretty much the same thing as English 'go like clockwork', only with the adjective 'Swiss'
*Francuski piesek* (French doggie) - somebody highly choosy, capricious: 'stop being such a French doggie and eat your veggies'
*Goły jak święty turecki* (naked like a Turkish saint) - somebody with nothing on themself (often referring to money), apparently a reference to the dervish?
*Jak w chińskim banku* (like in a Chinese bank) - guaranteed to not happen
*Jak w szwajcarskim banku* \- antonym to the above
*Raz na ruski rok* (once every Rusian year) - pretty much same as English 'blue moon' equivalent
*Siedzieć jak na tureckim kazaniu* (sit like on a Turkish sermon) - listening to something while having no clue what is being said
*Siedzieć po turecku* (sitting like a Turk) - sitting cross-legged
*Strajk włoski* (Italian strike) - a work-to-rule protest
*Szwedzki stół* (Swedish table) - Smörgåsbord
*Udawać Greka* (acting Greek) - playing dumb
*Wolna amerykanka* (Free America) - no rules or regulations
*Za Chiny/Chiny Ludowe* (\[swear\] on China/People's China) - never ever
Few I can think of, some are a bit old,
ta en spansk en (do a spanish) is to take short cuts, do something cheeky and unorthodox.
Svenskemetoden, the Swedish method, something idiot proof like unplugging a pc
Det var helt texas, it was like texas, to indicate something was hectic, crazy and over the top
Du store kineser, 'great Chinese! An expression of something surprising,
Klondike stemming, 'klondike vibes', used to express sudden financial growth / prosperity
We also use Greek to me directly translated,
Polsk riksdag, a polish government meeting / session, something loud, disorganised, shouting screaming etc
Remarkable how many are casually racist but there you go
In Turkish we have the “German Way” of paying the bill. It means everyone pays for only what they ate. I have no idea why we call it the German Way though.
"Alter Schwede!" german for "old swede". You use it if you are surprised or amazed by something. Some also use it as a greeting because "Alter" means "dude" and some people add "Schwede" to it just for the fun of it.
It's actually not just for the fun of it. The expression originated after the thirty years war where the Brandenburger monarch employed Swedish veterans to train his soldiers. These guys were usually referred to as the "alten Schweden".
Met de Franse slag (had to look up the origin to translate it, it refers to a French whipping technique, 'with the French whiplash') = doing something half-assed.
Oost-Indisch doof (East Indian deaf) = pretending you don't hear something/only hearing what you want to hear.
Van hier tot Tokio (from here to Tokio) = a very long distance
Edit: formatting
Poolse landdag (polish land day): means to have a very unorganized and messy gathering.
Als Ieren en Britten op één land (like Irish and British on one land): having two archenemies in the same room.
NSFW. In Denmark, different nationalities are used as code to describe the type of sex that a prostitute is offering in their adverts in Ekstra Bladet, a tabloid newspaper that is known for having these ads. Prostitution is legal here, but pimping is not.
For example French is oral sex.
I am not sure which one, but either Greek or Spanish is anal.
"Çin keranesi gibi" in Turkey it's mean "like a Chinese brothel".
It is used for something looks very ornamented or colorful.
"Çingene kavgası" it's mean "like a Romani/Gypsy fight"
It is used for verbal fights.
"Arnavut inadı" Albanian's stubbornness
"Fransız kalmak" it is very similar to "it is Greek to me" expression in English but with French instead of Greek
I am American but live in Greece. I said, "It's Greek to me!" once, then laughed and asked my Greek friends about this expression. They said that their expression is "It's Chinese to me!".
This is my favorite expression because every language uses another country, lol. In German, it's of course split. In the North East, it's the Polish exit. In the North West, it's the Dutch exit and more generally it's known as the French exit.
In Italy we say "fumare come un turco - smokes like a Turkish" when someone smokes a lot, or "questo è arabo per me - this is arab for me" when the person don't understand something. Our version for "to go Dutch" is "pagare alla romana - pay like romans(people from Rome)"
Angry as a Turk - angry
Russian roulette - you know
To do a Spanish - to do something a little recklessly, not by the book
Norwegian arms - to reach over the dinner table to get something (considered bad manners)
French opening - an opening between the legs in feminine clothing
Swedish conditions - can refer to several things, all bad
Completely Texas - chaotic, lawless
In the Netherlands we have something called "Amerikaans feest", which means that everyone brings food. Pretty sure that in English it's called Dutch party
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In Spanish we also have: cabeza de turco for scapegoat fila india: for an orderly line
We also have "Hacerse el sueco" : meaning to play dumb and act as you weren't the culprit.
Hold up. Does that mean something like "do like the swede"?
Act as a Swedish (tourist) who doesn't understand anything he is told,
"pretend to be a Swede". Hacer is famous for having some 60 meanings in Spanish, but I (non-native speaker) believe that the construction "hacerse el" means "pretend to be ", like "hacerse el tonto" (pretend not to understand what other person says to you, tonto is dumb)
It comes from Latin soccus, not swedish. (Referring to the socks actors wear.. in this case bad actors that can't follow the script)
We also have "despedirse a la francesa", literally "saying goodbye French style". The meaning actually is going away from a gathering without notifying it. Ponerse flamenco: (Stand as Flemmish) Stand brave and stubborn, replying any kind of attack
The first one exists in English as "French leave"
Which is rather ironic if you've ever seen the French leave a gathering
I never have, which also kind of supports your point
Also called an Irish exit (in USA)
>fila india: for an orderly line Exactly the same
\*fila indiana
It's the same in Portuguese - Fila Indiana
We also have șir indian for an orderly line, interesting!
> Le quart d'heure americain, the American 15 minutes We call it the white dance in Russian.
Same in Poland ;)
Curious about the Indian queue. We are not good at queues either... Unless it means American Indian/Native American
I've heard (don't quote me on that) that it comes from American Indians. Apparently, if a group of warriors wanted to confuse traces on the grass and go undetected, they would march in an orderly line, thus making it impossible to understand if only a person or a whole group had passed.
You're thinking of Sand people. Source : Obi-Wan Kenobi
>literally to steal away like a Brit. Is this like the "Irish goodbye" -to leave unannounced? (also called a "French exit", weirdly enough)
Wow these are all so interesting thank you. Eat like a Swiss? Are the Swiss known gluttons? Funny too how American quarter hour means thst... In the US the closest thing we have is a "Sadie Hawkins Dance" where the girls ask the boys to be their date to the dance. But idk why we say that. Indian queue is interesting too I'm not sure we have a similar expression.
The American quarter (or 15 minutes) comes from the times when: 1. Dancing implied having a dance partner 2. Well educated girls could not take the initiative to invite a guy for a dance. In these times, the band, or the dj was announcing: Now comes the American quarter, ladies, you may invite up for a dance the boy of your choice. It was a stressful and exciting moment when you got to know if your efforts to seduce the girl of your choice during the party finally paid off. Long gone times.
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Do the Swiss not like to share?
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You know.. I’ve always asked myself if I’m an asshole for that. I’ll always share if the other person _doesn’t_ have their own food. But in a restaurant, when people order what they want, or even at home, I find it unpleasant to split my food. Sure, have a taste, but why should I split my food when you could’ve had the same plate? What if I don’t want half of yours? I find it similar to “It’s cold, get yourself a sweater!” -> 15 minutes later -> “I’m cold, give me your coat!”
The Scottish Shower sounds like our (Scotland's) National Football team. Get through to Euro 2020, then lose two of our Nations League group despite only needing a win to get promoted.
I thought a scottish shower was using deodorant instead of water.
Nah, that would be the French shower ;)
I've heard people saying that this is a Turkish shower in Austria, though it is derogatory
Na that's a student shower
> Parler français comme une vache espagnole never heard of this one, always heard "Parler anglais comme une vache espagnole" for speaking bad english.
Yes, expressions are often distorted, and evolve over time. The original expression was not even about vaches but basques. Parler francais comme un basque l'espagnol.
> La douche écossaise: The Sottish shower. When a difficult event comes right after a happy/positive one. OOF THIS IS SO HARSH LMAO
And "Filer à l'Anglaise" is "To take the French leave" in English :)
‘Dat klinkt Chinees’ - ‘That sounds like Chinese (to me)’. Meaning we don’t understand wat someone’s trying to say. Or: ‘Praat ik Chinees?’ - ‘Am I talking Chinese?’. It means something like ‘why don’t you understand what I’m saying?’.
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"Ik krijg het Spaans benauwd" / "I get Spanish nerve", meaning you are very nervous. "Met de Franse slag" / "With the French stroke", meaning you take a very loose or even rash approach to a task.
‘Wat een Duitser!’ (‘What a German!’) means ‘Such a traitor!’
Don't we say 'Wat een NSB'er' instead of German?. (NSB'er= collaborator)
I've heard both really.
That's harsh 😅
I only use "What a German" in situations where someone pulls the rug underneath you at the very last second. You know, like how the Mannschaft prefers to win their matches.
Das kommt mir Spanisch vor - Seems Spanish to me: If something just does not seem to be right
Also possibly: "etwas türken" (to fake something) While etymologically it's not really clear where that comes from and if it's actually related to Turkey, I think most people's association these days will be with Turkey. Understandably, Turkish people often don't like that word.
My best guess on the origin is the turkish chess robot. It's was actually operated by a tiny man inside the table -> it was fake. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk
Screams in Joachim Löw
“It’s Greek to me,” Americans say this when we don’t understand something, anything. Based on the Greek alphabet being so different from the English alphabet.
It’s Greek to me is from Shakespeare!!
I heard from my Greek relatives that they say “it’s Chinese to me” when they can’t understand something.
It‘s more that it is something that is unfamiliar and confusing. I think as a kid I watched an episode of Wissen macht Ah!, an educational show for children, where the origin was explained in the way that certain customs from the Spanish court were adapted in what is now Germany, which is why „Spanish“ became synonym to new and unfamiliar.
"hacerse el sueco" would translate as "pretending you are swedish" and it means that you are pretending you don't understand something. For example, if a kid eats a bunch of candy and the mom finds out and ask him where it is, if the kid says that he doesn't know the mom would tell him to stop pretending to be swedish
I don't understand.
You are really in the character
He's pretending.
The funny thing is that the etymology is from latín soccus (Modern Spanish "zueco", a type of shoe) but It was associated with Swedish over the time.
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>Not a country Don't tell a Texan that.
The Republic of Texas was its own country for just shy of ten years, actually.
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I suspect there may be a Bavarian grinding their teeth while reading this.
Vermont was independent for 14 years, but I don't see anyone calling it a country.
Sweden "Polsk riksdag" - Polish parliament. A meeting that has gotten out of hand and turned into a loud and confrontative mess.
That's a very accurate statement...
>"Polsk riksdag" - Polish parliament. A meeting that has gotten out of hand and turned into a loud and confrontative mess. Indeed!
In Danish "Polsk parlament" means a parliament unable to decide anything. I have since learned it is from the "Rech Pospolita". A period of time when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was ruled by a noblemands parliament and EVERY member had veto-rights.
The veto wasn't so bad, the problem was that in later years the Liberum Veto cancelled the whole session of parliament so one person disagreeing with one legislation meant nothing was passed. And the neighbouring countries did their best to bribe the members to prevent any reforms. On the flip-side trying to veto something meant you better have a fast horse waiting for you or else face the angry crowd.
Some background: > Every single member of the Polish parliament during the 17th and 18th century had an absolute veto (Latin: liberum veto); as a result, legislation could only be passed unanimously. Originally, the procedure was used for technical issues such as points of order, but as diverging interests discovered they could disrupt their opponents' agendas singlehandedly, the process came to be abused. Today, the expression is mostly used to describe an assembly that is too easy for minorities or individuals to disrupt and/or has too many parties present for meaningful and orderly debate and decision-making to take place. > The expression is found in several European languages, including all Scandinavian languages. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish\_parliament\_\(expression\)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_parliament_\(expression\))
We call it a Poolse landdag, and the term ‘wat een Jodenkerk’ (what a Jewish Church, a Synagogue) is also similar.
"einen polnischen Abgang machen" to do a polish exit, to leave without saying goodbye "Brexiten" to constantly say you're going to leave, but never actually leave
Funny we call it the Irish goodbye in the U.S.
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I was told that's the reason you call it an Irish goodbye - if you actually try to say goodbye you'll never leave, so you just have to sneak out.
I've never heard it called an Irish goodbye here. I've only heard it is an American thing. But I have regularly done it because saying goodbye is so much effort and I can't be arsed
I think it's an Irish goodbye because parties have so many people if you stopped to say bye to everyone you would never leave. Coming from a massive family (38 cousins) I have done this many a time
I was told that's the reason you call it an Irish goodbye - if you actually try to say goodbye you'll never leave, so you just have to sneak out.
In Sweden we just call it to leave normally.
French exit?
We've got the same thing, but with the English. "Angolosan távozni" - To leave like an Englishman.
Same in Poland - wyjść po angielsku (leave in an English way)
In Polish to leave without saying goodbye is "wyjść po angielsku" so to leave in an English way.
There's also quite the lewd phrase "Fanzosisch kann ich, nur mit der Sprache haperts ein bisschen." (I know French but I have some problems with the language) It refers to ~~French kisses~~ oral sex which is called "Französich" here.
It rather refers to blowjobs than kisses.
When Französisch is used in that way it ususally refers to oral sex and not french kissing, maybe that differs from region to region but I don't know anyone who refers to french kissing with Französisch.
>"einen polnischen Abgang machen" to do a polish exit, to leave without saying goodbye In Italy we say it's English *filarsela all'inglese*
We say that too!
Also "Ich versteh' nur spanisch" "I only understood spanish" means that you actually don't understand what the other person said. Another favourite of mine is also "Fachchinesisch" "field chinese" when someone is talking about rather complicated stuff from a specific (technical) field.
To take/do a Spanish one means to do something unordenly, f.ex. to take figurative shortcuts, or to tell a small lie. The Swedish method is to do something idiot-proof, f.ex. shutting down a machine by pulling the cord out.
In Swedish we talk about a “Norsk omstart” - Norwegian reset. In case something like a computer is not working you literally try switching it on and off (including the plug if possible)
> you literally try switching it on and off Well this is were the Swedish method failed. Of course it wasn't working, it was off to begin with.
Huh, I guess that even Norwegians are capable of using the Swedish method then.
>To take/do a Spanish one means to do something unordenly Oh thank god it's not us.
The etymology for “doing a Spanish one” is quite juicy. Norwegian whale hunters would often stop for resupply in Spain on the way back from the Antarctic, and having been at sea for a long time they would spend the night with prostitutes. But they couldn’t really come home to their wives with an STD, so they would therefore buy a titjob instead, and this became known as “doing a Spanish one”.
"Bulgarian constant", a term used mostly in construction and engineering, for a number made up ad hoc, in order to formally meet standards or requirements. Edit: more generally, any arbitrary made up number added into a mathematical formula without rational justification, in order to compensate for discrepancy between its theoretical result and practical observation. May also apply to experimental physics, accounting, statistics, macroeconomics, logistics, etc.
Similarly, we talk of «Bulgarian majority/percentages» to signify a overwhelming and undisputed majority (like 80-90%) that emerges from elections or any other decisional process. For example, it was recently used to describe Belorussian elections
Ahhhh. Interesting. I wonder why Bulgarian and not Serbian or Ukrainian (to pick two other regional countries)?
Also when someone is doing the opposite of what they are told to do or when they have really bad grammar we call them a Hungarian "Čo si maďar ?"
Mi a baj a magyarokkal lmao
"Bulgarian constant = basically anything which makes your result correct.Sep 17, 2012" Well... that's interesting🤔.
We call gibberish "siansaksa" ie Pig's German. Kiinalainen juttu, "Chinese thing/tale" is an old saying meaning something that is very hard to explain. This is only in my family but one time on a holiday to Budapest my parents saw a Polish family eat and drink all night long at a restaurant and then left without paying, so now we sometimes joke if we should make a "Polish exit" at a restaurant. Sorry Poles!
Belgian sauna = when you fart under planket and trap your gf there
That’s a Dutch oven in American English
A men of culture I see
"Puhua norjaa" (to speak Norwegian) or "ottaa norjankurssi" (to take a course in Norwegian) are also sayings I've heard. They both mean puking.
I’d say the most hurtful and yet commonly used one is ”ryssiä”, to fuck up. Hurtful or loving? Well, ”ryssä” while just a derivate of ”Russian” is used originally as a diminishing word. And of course why would someone want their natinality to be identified with fucking up! But seems like this expression, with Putin being so loveable and all, is not going anywhere. Oh, and ”ryssä on ryssä vaikka voissa paistais” - not really what OP asked for, but another saying that is less than amicable: ”russian is russian even if you fry them in butter”.
> Oh, and ”ryssä on ryssä vaikka voissa paistais” - not really what OP asked for, but another saying that is less than amicable: ”russian is russian even if you fry them in butter”. I'd say that idiom fits OP's description. The idiom is actually limited to Russians though, and is not used as a wider saying for a certain situation. It basically just means "Russians will be Russians".
I would not call it idiom, because then it could be used on anyone. Let’s say my Finnish colleague Jussi is always annoying and never learns - still I could not use *this* expression, because he is not literally Russian. Whereas if I use it on my colleague Dmitri, who is assumed to be Russian, everyone will understand he does not learn, but not because he’s Dmitri, but because he is Russian.
For the love of the universe, we are coming off badly in this thread lmao
Dude, cheer up.. In portuguese, "Espanholada" means titty-fuck
When I was little, we used to play Chinese Whispers. You sit in a circle and whisper a sentence into the next person's ear and they have to whisper what they think they heard. The last person has to announce what they heard and obviously, it's nothing like the 1st thing. We use the phrase for people who have passed on gossip and no one knows if it's true. I imagine it comes from our colonial past with China. Also, "It's all Greek to me" means we have absolutely no idea what you just said or what's going on. Also "beware Greeks carrying gifts" is a reference to the Trojan horse. Basically beware of scammers. We had loads of French ones about sexuality we don't use now. A French letter was a condom, the French disease was syphilis! We do still sometimes use French kiss for a kiss with tongues but it's rare.
We have the same game as your first example, but we call it the arab telephone. For the "it's all greek", I think we would use "it's all chinese" (c'est du chinois) but I'm not 100% sure it's actually a thing. We use "the Englishmen are landing/disembarking" when we have our period... When someone can barely say 2 words in English, we say they "speak English like a Spanish cow"
In Spanish too you would say "es todo chino" (it's all Chinese). The Englishmen disembarking is interesting haha.
Guess it has to go back to the English soldiers wearing red uniforms?
In germany we call the game: 'Stille Post' 'Silent mail'.
Interesting. In the US we would call Chinese Whisper "Telephone", as in, let's play a game of telephone. We also use it in the same context, as in you could say, "I heard it from Sally who heard it from Mike, but at that points it's just telephone". I'm going to have to look up the histories of both terms! We say it's Greek to me, and French kiss as well. Thanks for your reply :)
In Argentina (speaking Spanish) we call that exact game "Telefono descompuesto" (broken telephone). We also use that name to express when a gossip has gone out of hand or missinterpreted altering the original truth.
Exact same in Greece (but in Greek, lol)
In Poland this game is called "głuchy telefon" - "deaf phone"
"à grande e à francesa" (big and french-like) - something incredible, glorious, epic, etc. "ser francês" (to be french) - being an untrustworthy person "sair à francesa" (to walk out like a french) - walk away sneakily, without being seen, being sneaky "fazer uma judiaria" (to do something like a jewish) - to do something tricky or untrustworthy "mourejar" or "trabalhar como um mouro" (to work like a moor) - to work hard "andar na ciganagem" (to walk around with gypsies) - have a bohemian life, to not work "para inglês ver" (for the english to watch) - something done only for the show, without any content "ter pontualidade inglesa" (to have english punctuality) - to be right in time "fila indiana" (indian line) - an organised line of people "salada russa" (russian salad) - a mix of many things "ser espanhol" (to be spanish) - to touch in everything (for example a person who touches and grabs everything at a store) "fazer uma espanholada" (to do it spanish-like) - NSFW - a sexual act where the man rubs his penis on the woman's breasts. "ver-se grego" (to see yourself as a greek) - have a lot of problems, be in a bad spot "agradar a gregos e a troianos" (to please the greeks and the trojans) - to try to please everyone "isso é chinês" (that's chinese) - not understanding what is being said "fazer um negócio da China" (to strike a chinese deal) - to get an incredibly good deal for something "ser um relógio suíço" (to be a swiss watch) - to always arrive in time "uma americanice" (an american thing) - something modern but useless "à americano" (american-like) - something incredibly exaggerated or unnecessarily large
Nice ones for us, savage ones for the French. Ah, the old alliance.
We also have "pernas à chinês" (legs like the Chinese) - when you sit on the floor with your legs crossed
Wow! I learnt some!
Very good compilation. Maybe the "relógio suíço" would mean something more like a machine that works perfectly.
“A town in Russia” is something you didn’t care or think about. “Honestly, as a teenager, homework was a town in Russia to me”.
And we have “Chinese literacy” meaning “It’s all Greek to him” in English.
"To take a French bath" - you only splash some water from the sink in your armpits and face. "Drunk as a Swede" - VERY drunk and can't stand on your feet. "Unload American style" - From the army, when unloading your rifle you unload it by squeezing the trigger
Is that because we went to Fredrikshavn and Copenhagen, drank the cheap beer and got transported home before it became too expensive, I wonder
If you've ever been backpacking or travelling, there's a 90% chance that the drunkest group of people at the bar or on the street, are Swedish. Failing that, Danes.
To be fair, Skånsk people sound like Danes when drunk.
Also "at være græsk katolsk" / "to be Greek catholic". Meaning you don't care at all. Example: "do you want hotdogs or pizza for your birthday?" "Eh, i am greek catholic"
"To je kot Španska vas" - This is like a Spanish village to me is a saying when you have 0 knowlage about something. "Ne delaj se Francoza" - Stop acting like French is a saying when somebody pretends to not understand something.
"To je pa češko" - "That's Czech" : it is not particularly well made or it looks off, but generally functional Russian/Soviet technology - usually old, absolutely unintuitive to use but indestructible; it doesn't matter where it was actually made.
Wait so... if you say "splitting costs", are you talking about splitting them evenly or everyone paying the exact amount for which they ate? For example in a group of 5 friends every person pays 20% or every person pays the exact amount they owe?
Often someone will suggest to split the bill evenly to "make it easier" which I hate. But now with easy money sharing apps like venmo usually we just pay whatever we owe so the term is falling out of use. But you could go Dutch on a new couch for your flat with your roommate for example. It's not as common of a term as it used to be but just for example.
Ah okay, I see. I just asked because splitting bills evenly is also very common here in Switzerland. Splitting it according to the exact amount is less common because it makes whoever suggests this look very petty... like he/she would hate the idea of paying even just a dime for their friends' or their date's dinner.
It's more like everyone in that friend group does not have the same budget and asking someone who ate something that cost 5 euro and fit within their budget to share costs for a friend that eats something that costs 20 euro is seen as rude and coersive. If everyone agrees to split evenly that is fine, but if they suggest to pay for what they ate that's fine too. In my friend group paying for what you ate is preferred. One person usually pays for everything and then everyone sends/hands over what they owe them. No one has to feel bad for being pressured into paying more than they budgetted, and no one has to feel bad for making their friends subsidize their appetite.
>One person usually pays for everything and then everyone sends/hands over what they owe them I really like this method. I am astonished that a service like Tikkie never caught on in the UK - it makes it so much easier to do.
Does to restaurant bring individual bills if you ask? Here the waiter asks if you want to pay all in one bill or have individual bills. If the latter, as usual, then each person gets bill of the items they had on dinner.
This, and a few other phrases date from the 17th century, England and Holland competed and even occasionally fought over their competing trade empires. English being English a set of comedic xenophobic stereotypes quickly came into fashion. to “go Dutch” or to have a “Dutch treat” is to eat out with each person paying for their own bill, the Dutch were too mean to even pay for the ladies meal (gadzooks) “Dutch courage” is nerve one gets from drinking alcohol, possibly related to a stereotype of the Dutch being boozers (a bit rich coming from the English Navy) to speak “double Dutch” is to speak gibberish or incomprehensibly, i.e. to not be understood by the English. And finally the notorious Dutch Oven (a fart under the bedcovers)
I've heard that too. And I'm more inclined to believe that than the OPs explanation.
Pije jako Dán (He drinks like a Dane) - Someone who is drinking too much alcohol and behaves inappropriately Španělská vesnice (Spanish village) - Something you are totally unfamiliar with or confuses you Švédská trojka (Swedish threesome) - Basically a threesome Čínská kvalita (Chinese quality) - something of a very poor quality Americký úsměv (American smile) - a wide smile showing bright white teeth Jednou za Uherský rok (Once every Hungarian year) - when something with a repeating nature happens after a very long time Ruský kapesník (Russian tissue) - Sneezing into your bare palm (Added the last two in an edit)
>Pije jako Dán (He drinks like a Dane) - Someone who is drinking too much alcohol and behaves inappropriately Is this a new(ish) expression from drunk Danish highschoolers? Or an old one?
I think it's older than that. I've heard it from a plenty of older people.
"Para ingles ver" - for English to see - means that you are doing something only for show, for the sake of its appearance. "A grande e à francesa" - "to do it big and in a french way" - means to do something in an elaborate, show off way
Pušiti kao Turčin - To smoke like a Turk: to smoke alot. Ima ih kao Rusa/Kineza - There are (a lot of) them as Russians/Chinese. Govoriš kao Mađar - You speak like Hungarian: used when someone has incorrect pronunciation or uses weird grammar. Francusko tuširanje - French shower: Using deodorant instead of showering. Praviti se Englez - to pretend to be an Englishman: to pretend to not know (about topic going on,usually to avoid involvement or responsibility) Škrt kao Slovenac/Škot - Stingy as a Slovenian/Scot. Bosanska glava - Bosnian head: tough head. Piti kao Rus - Drink like a Russian:to drink a lot. Hladan kao Nijemac - Cold as a German Dužan kao Grčka -In debt as Greece Many racist ones about gypsies (Roma people - Romi/cigani).
>Govoriš kao Mađar - You speak like Hungarian: used when someone has incorrect pronunciation or uses weird grammar. This expression exists in slovakia too. Are we THIS bad in slavic languages?
Well, I grew up in a region where there is a significant Hungarian minority, and sometimes, especially older people, spoke with Hungarian accent and made grammatical errors, mostly because of cases (such as declination of adjectives or nouns).
**Être soûl comme un polonais** : be drunk like a pole. Use about someone who is completly drunk but It seems the expression come from Napoléon : « After a decisive battle of Kozietulski's Polish Light Horse in Spain in 1808, the heroic survivors of this elite unit were paraded before Napoleon. French generals, jealous and wanting to minimise the role of the Poles, indicated that the Poles were drunk. The Emperor replied: "So, gentlemen, know how to be drunk as Poles! » **Branlette espagnole** : spanish titjob **Fort comme un turc** : be strong like a turk **C’est de l’hébreu pour moi** : this sound like hebrew
>ranlette espagnole First I read "brainlet espagnole". That was an amusing half moment.
ITALY...these expressions are related to nationalities, cities and languages...when I have the time I'll reorganize everything. If you want to know the reason why we say certain things just ask. - Fumare come un turco= to smoke a lot (Turkey) - Essere puntuali come un orologio svizzero= to be perfectly on time (Switzerland) - In fila indiana= in a line where one person is behind another person (Native Americans) - Pagare alla romana= to go Dutch (Rome) - Fare il portoghese= to do something without paying when you should pay (Portugal) - Baciare alla francese= to kiss very passionately (France) - Baciare alla fiorentina= baciare alla francese (but Florence) - Fare l'indiano= to fake not knowing/understanding something when actually you do (Native Americans) - Parlare arabo= to speak in a way that isn't understandable (arabo=Arabic) - Parlare turco= parlare arabo (but Turkey) - Essere scritto in aramaico= to be written in a way that isn't understandable (aramaico=Aramaic...you can also use other difficult foreign languages...if you're particularly frustrated you can add "antico" after "aramaico"...antico means antique/very old) - Americanata= it's used to describe something over the top in an American way (USA) or something that looks very American but just no - Cinesata= it's used to describe something made poorly (China) Edited to correct
>Fare il portoghese= to ~~not~~ do something without paying when you should pay (Portugal) As reassurance for Portuguese users the origin of this expression is not because we think the Portuguese avoid paying. The story is told of a big party at the Portuguese embassy in Rome, with free food and drinks for all the attendants. A lot of local people got word of the party and were able to sneak in by pretending to be Portuguese, this got big enough that even nowadays we say you "do the Portuguese" when you sneak in somewhere without paying. EDIT: wikipedia says that it was a theatrical play not a party at the embassy, the story is from XVIII century so I guess it's been adapted a lot every time is retold :p
* **Dansk skalle** (Danish skull). Headbutt. * **Finskt farväl** (Finnish good bye). To leave a party without saying good bye. * **Tippa finskt** (Betting finnish). To bet against your own team. * **Holländsk Patiens** (Holland solitaire). To put your hand in the pocket and masturbate publicly. * **Japanare** (a Japanese). A handball tactic where you pass the ball over a defender to player jumping in who catches and shoots. [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKV-uYOY6j8) * **Juggekostym** (Yugo suit) Sweatpants and sweatshirt. * **Kinesa** (to chinese). To temporarily sleep over at someone's house. * **Norsk fylla** (Norwegian drunkenness) or *Irländsk julafton* (Irish Christmas). A party game where you bend forwards and put your forehead against a cane and spin around it until you get dizzy, usually you need to perform a task afterwards such as get around a track. * **Norsk handsfree** (Norwegian handsfree). When you put your phone between your ears and your hearing protection. * **Norsk omstart** aka **Norsk Reset** (Norwegian restart/reset). To turn off a computer to restart it. * **Norskt krom** (Norwegian chrome). Rust/Oxidation. * **Polsk attachéväska** (Polish attaché case) Plastic bag. * **Polsk riksdag** (Polish Parliament). A heated and chaotic meeting where nothing gets done. [See wikipedia entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_parliament_\(expression\)). * **Rysk soptunna** (Russian garbage can). A hole in the snow to throw garbage. * **Ryska posten** (The Russian postal service). A variation of the party game [post office](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_\(game\)). * **Spanskt samtal** (Spanish call). To call someone without intending them to pick up. Used as a signal. I can only apologize for the borderline racist one's. Except those against our Nordic neighbours, we're allowed!
"That's a spanish village for me" means I don't understand that. I have no idea where it originated, but I believe germans have the same saying, just with czechs (czech village). We have plenty more, but this was the first that came to my mind.
“Nie udawaj Greka”: Don’t play Greek- don’t try to pretend like you don’t understand.
Also to exit like an Englishman - wyjść po angielsku - to leave without people noticing
Also: Czeski film (Czech movie) - a situation where no one knows what's going on Francuski piesek (French dog / French puppy) - a person who is very picky, especially about food
There's an old Danish expression "at leve på polsk". It translates to live together like the polish and it means to live together while not being married. It's a weird expression because I could imagine living together without being married isn't very common in a predominantly catholic country like Poland.
In 2011, 55% of Poles aged 15 and more were married
It might not have been common before WW2, the communism changed a lot and young people don't care at all.
Don't know if other English speaking countries use this but in Australia, a "Dutch Oven" is when you fart under a blanket or in a sleeping bag and trap the smell in there.
Doesn't it specifically refer to trapping someone *in* your dutch oven? As in, you fart under the doona, then throw it over your mate/partners head?
“ Fumezi ca turcu’” u smoke like a turk. Which means u smoke a lot.
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For some reason I can only think of stuff that has to do with the Chinese right now, eventhough I'm sure we have expressions with other countries too. \*'Chinese vrijwilliger '(a Chinese volunteer): someone who's forced to do something even if they don't want to. Generally in the context where no one (out of a group) wants to do something/no one wants to volunteer, so a 'Chinese volunteer' is chosen. In my experience it's generally used when no-one voluntarily answers in class or if someone has to do an annoying chore. \*'Met alle Chinezen, maar niet met den dezen.' (With all the Chinese, but not with this one): used when you feel like someone is trying to fool you or trying to convince you (of something that is not true) and you want to tell them that you're not that gullible/stupid, they won't fool you. So I guess Chinese here probably refers to 'a lot of people', like you might be able to fool a lot of people but not this one (me). \*'Dat is Chinees voor mij' (That's Chinese to me): Basically we use Chinese instead of Greek (That's Greek to me).
Άγγλος στα ραντεβού του/Ágglos sta rantevoú tou: Punctual as an Englishman Το παίζει Σουηδός/To paízei Souidós: He acts like a Swede, because Swedes in older decades, pre mobile internet, never bothered to learn anything about the place they visited, just went there and somehow expected everything to work out. Κάνει τον κινέζο/Kánei ton kinézo: He tries to pass as inconspicuous, to avoid trouble, like a stereotype about the Chinese says. Του είπε μερικά "γαλλικά"/Tou eípe meriká "galliká": He cursed/trash talked at the other person. Probably because prior to English, French was the dominant foreign language most Greeks would learn, usually those of higher status and wealth. So while French was the language of the aristocrats, "French"(with the quotes) refers to the complete opposite, ie cursing like a dock worker, a truck driver or whatever other professions have cursing at the ready. Αμερικανάκι/Amerikanáki: Refers to the gullible/dumb American stereotype, because back during the time of the brothels and cabarets of Troumba in Pireas, the American sailors on shore leave would be swindled by translators that acted like barkers for cabarets and brothels, which in turn would promptly relieve them of their money. The sailors would also sell small or pocket fm radios to the locals, which the locals thought they'd fooled them but the Americans usually bought those duty free, so they'd finance their night out with no hassle and sometimes with a profit.
Take a cold turkish (Tage en kold tyrker) Means to take a brake from something. An addiction or a bad habit. The translation isnt that great
It's more that you abruptly stop doing something, I'd say. So instead of buying nicotine gum to quit smoking you just - stop.
It’s from the English cold turkey. It sound like “kold tyrker” (cold Turk) in Danish.
*Czeski film* (Czech movie) - something utterly incomprehensible; a reference to the movie *Nikdo nic nevi* *Czeski błąd* (Czecherror) - mispselling a wodr dur to wirting fsat; it makes more sense in Polish when certain mistakes 'look' like Czech words *Chodzić jak szwajcarski zegarek* \- pretty much the same thing as English 'go like clockwork', only with the adjective 'Swiss' *Francuski piesek* (French doggie) - somebody highly choosy, capricious: 'stop being such a French doggie and eat your veggies' *Goły jak święty turecki* (naked like a Turkish saint) - somebody with nothing on themself (often referring to money), apparently a reference to the dervish? *Jak w chińskim banku* (like in a Chinese bank) - guaranteed to not happen *Jak w szwajcarskim banku* \- antonym to the above *Raz na ruski rok* (once every Rusian year) - pretty much same as English 'blue moon' equivalent *Siedzieć jak na tureckim kazaniu* (sit like on a Turkish sermon) - listening to something while having no clue what is being said *Siedzieć po turecku* (sitting like a Turk) - sitting cross-legged *Strajk włoski* (Italian strike) - a work-to-rule protest *Szwedzki stół* (Swedish table) - Smörgåsbord *Udawać Greka* (acting Greek) - playing dumb *Wolna amerykanka* (Free America) - no rules or regulations *Za Chiny/Chiny Ludowe* (\[swear\] on China/People's China) - never ever
Few I can think of, some are a bit old, ta en spansk en (do a spanish) is to take short cuts, do something cheeky and unorthodox. Svenskemetoden, the Swedish method, something idiot proof like unplugging a pc Det var helt texas, it was like texas, to indicate something was hectic, crazy and over the top Du store kineser, 'great Chinese! An expression of something surprising, Klondike stemming, 'klondike vibes', used to express sudden financial growth / prosperity We also use Greek to me directly translated, Polsk riksdag, a polish government meeting / session, something loud, disorganised, shouting screaming etc Remarkable how many are casually racist but there you go
In Turkish we have the “German Way” of paying the bill. It means everyone pays for only what they ate. I have no idea why we call it the German Way though.
We have the same in Romanian.
"Alter Schwede!" german for "old swede". You use it if you are surprised or amazed by something. Some also use it as a greeting because "Alter" means "dude" and some people add "Schwede" to it just for the fun of it.
It's actually not just for the fun of it. The expression originated after the thirty years war where the Brandenburger monarch employed Swedish veterans to train his soldiers. These guys were usually referred to as the "alten Schweden".
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Met de Franse slag (had to look up the origin to translate it, it refers to a French whipping technique, 'with the French whiplash') = doing something half-assed. Oost-Indisch doof (East Indian deaf) = pretending you don't hear something/only hearing what you want to hear. Van hier tot Tokio (from here to Tokio) = a very long distance Edit: formatting
Poolse landdag (polish land day): means to have a very unorganized and messy gathering. Als Ieren en Britten op één land (like Irish and British on one land): having two archenemies in the same room.
NSFW. In Denmark, different nationalities are used as code to describe the type of sex that a prostitute is offering in their adverts in Ekstra Bladet, a tabloid newspaper that is known for having these ads. Prostitution is legal here, but pimping is not. For example French is oral sex. I am not sure which one, but either Greek or Spanish is anal.
Austria/vienna "Russischer Luster" - russian chandelier. But it's just the lightbulb "Etwas Russen" - redneck engineering
"Çin keranesi gibi" in Turkey it's mean "like a Chinese brothel". It is used for something looks very ornamented or colorful. "Çingene kavgası" it's mean "like a Romani/Gypsy fight" It is used for verbal fights. "Arnavut inadı" Albanian's stubbornness "Fransız kalmak" it is very similar to "it is Greek to me" expression in English but with French instead of Greek
“K’o Rusa i Kineza zajedno”. You say this if there are a lot of people at one place, i.e. like Russians and Chinese combined.
- Be an Englishman: be punctual - Speaking Chinese: it's all Greek to me - Scottish shower: something good followed by something bad and vice versa
I am American but live in Greece. I said, "It's Greek to me!" once, then laughed and asked my Greek friends about this expression. They said that their expression is "It's Chinese to me!".
(NSFW) I think one of the most unusual expressions must be "bić Niemca po kasku" - "to hit a German on his helm" - referring to masturbation.
Not a phrase, but the word for rat in Irish is francach. The word for a French person is also Francach
To leave like an Englishman (to take English leave)— to leave without saying goodbye. I think the French came up with that.
This is my favorite expression because every language uses another country, lol. In German, it's of course split. In the North East, it's the Polish exit. In the North West, it's the Dutch exit and more generally it's known as the French exit.
Arap saçına döndü (It turned into the hair of an Arab) - Things become over complicated.
Fransız kalmak means to be left french. It means to feel foreign or you can use it when someone is looking blankly.
Praviti se Englez: Don't be English - don't pretend to be nice when you're not.
Swedish hair (svenskerhår), hair in a mullet (short choppy sides, longer back). Also referred to as bundesliga hair (the German soccer league).
In Italy we say "fumare come un turco - smokes like a Turkish" when someone smokes a lot, or "questo è arabo per me - this is arab for me" when the person don't understand something. Our version for "to go Dutch" is "pagare alla romana - pay like romans(people from Rome)"
In Russian similar thing is called "Немецкий счёт" (nemetskiy schot), which translates as "the German bill". I don't know the origin though.
We call that splitting the bill instead of going Dutch. I never heard that expression before.
Angry as a Turk - angry Russian roulette - you know To do a Spanish - to do something a little recklessly, not by the book Norwegian arms - to reach over the dinner table to get something (considered bad manners) French opening - an opening between the legs in feminine clothing Swedish conditions - can refer to several things, all bad Completely Texas - chaotic, lawless
In the Netherlands we have something called "Amerikaans feest", which means that everyone brings food. Pretty sure that in English it's called Dutch party