The sow, the 20s, and the sausage-making machine.
19 03 2007OK, one night our friend Juan enlightened us to some funny sayings they have in Spanish (at least here in Argentina) that have a meaning but when taken literally, they are quite funny.
- La chancha, los vientes, y la machina de hacer chorizo = everything (lit. the female pig (sow), the twenties (refers to the baby pigs), and the sausage making machine)
- Lluevan soretes de punta = It is raining really hard. (lit. it is raining pieces of shit that are vertically aligned and have a pointy end pointing downwards.)
- Es una papa. = It’s easy. (lit. it is a potato.)
Sadly, when we had this discussion, we could not think of anything comparable in English other than “break a leg” and “raining cats and dogs”. So please, if you think of any, post them here.
Have a spanish friend here who says the most common mistake for spaniards living in the UK, is to say they’re constipated instead of congested. Was crying laughing the first time I heard that one.
Can’t think of any raining or everything sayings except the more literal “it’s pissing down”. Do you not use that for heavy rain??
Loving the blogs and all the food and dance posts make me very jealous!!
Hope all continues very well!!
Big hug
N.xxx.
No we don’t say “pissing down” unless we are talking about men relieving their bladders from a second story porch (or similar). We have crafted a verb for this (to porch). Thanks for reminding me.
try this website…
idiomsite.com
It has idioms from all English-speaking countries in alphabetical order.
the one that comes to mind after the description of the rain?
The shit hit the fan…..
Our “lock, stock and barrell” is similar to the sow,20’s, etc.
Or “the whole 9 yards”, etc.
I enjoy the postings!
Hasta Luego!
Chris Snyder
Hi y’all!
Neenan….I’m sure you remember Jacques asking me if I were going to eat the “trottoir” of my pizza at a restaurant in Trouville, in Normandy. Apparently, the crust all around the edge of the pizza is considered the “sidewalk”….ha ha. And of course, that evolved into a group of expressions using “trottoir”….as in “faire le trottoir”…..(doing the sidewalk, literally, where we would say “street walker”.)
And I can’t remember who came up with the “cross-eyed” expression….un oeil dit merde à l’autre”….one eye says “shit” to the other! Was that something you picked up? It still cracks me up, but how true!
I may think of others, but you really have a good start on an interesting collection….aren’t languages fascinating!?
Love, Mom (to be)