In Finnish we have “kissanristiäiset” (literally means a cat’s christening), which means some trivial and meaningless celebration/event.
Czech has a lot of them!
Dělá z komára velblouda.
He’s making a camel out of a mosquito.
= He’s making it seem like a bigger problem than it is.
Nemaluj čerta na zeď.
Don’t draw an imp on the wall.
= Don’t be pessimistic. Don’t assume the most catastrophic scenario.
Jsem tam pečený vařený.
I’m there baked cooked.
= I go there a lot.
Dala mi košem.
She hit me with a basket.
= She dumped me, or rejected my (mostly romantic) offer or advances.
Dělá jako by se nechumelilo.
He’s pretending like it’s not heavily snowing.
= He’s pretending like something doesn’t concern him. He’s nonchalant about a serious situation.
Kápni božskou!
Drip the divine! (Object implied. Probably “the divine truth”)
= Tell the truth. Spill it.
Láme to přes koleno.
He’s breaking it over his knee.
= He’s forcing it.
Natáhnout bačkory / brka, zaklepat bačkorama
To stretch (one’s) slippers / quills, to tap with (one’s) slippers
= To die. To kick the bucket.
Padli jsme si do oka.
We fell into each other’s eye.
= We hit it off.
Rozumí tomu jako koza petrželi.
He understands it like a goat understands parsley.
= He doesn’t understand it.
Přišel jsem s křížkem po funuse.
I came with a little cross after the funeral.
= I came too late.
Házím perly sviním.
I’m throwing pearls to swines.
= I’m doing good work or acts of kindness that go underappreciated.
And I could go on :)
I could hear someone with a very (US) Georgian accent saying “He understands that like a goat understands parsley”.
In Dutch we have one similar to dělá z komára velblouda, we say “van een mug een olifant maken” (making a mosquito out for an elephant), it means the same!
Also one similar to přišel jsem s křížkem po funuse; “mosterd na de maaltijd” (mustard after the meal) means something mentioned or brought too late, when it was no longer necessary.
I wonder how many languages have sayings like this.
Some of these are very interesting to me because very similar ones exist in German! Especially “einen Korb geben” (to give a basket) has me intrigued. Does this phrase come from a social norm to give a basket of something to someone you reject?
Thanks for sharing!
Like pearls to swine is a very seldom used idiom in English too, used very rarely and often in archaic/medievel/fantasy settings. Very interesting 2 languages have a shared idiom so neatly translated.
I am absolutely going to use “he’s pretending like it’s not heavily snowing” from now on. Thank you for sharing all of these!
