Differences in figurative language

[Conchita]

While many sayings, idioms, familiar expressions, etc. are similar in many languages, they often vary from one country to another. These differences can add some spice to both learning and translating and tell us about other ways of thinking or looking at things.

Here are some examples:

1. English
2. Spanish way of putting it – not to be learned as English!

1. To be as chirpy as a cricket,to be as happy as a lark
2. To be as cheerful as castanets

1. To have one’s heart in one’s boots/in one’s mouth
2. To have one’s soul on a string,to have one’s heart in a fist

1. To spend a penny (to go to the toilet)
2. To make a phone call

1. To keep the pot boiling,to earn one’s bread and butter
2. To earn one’s stew

1. It’s blowing great guns
2. The wind pulls off chimneys

1. To be as sharp as a needle
2. To be as sharp as hunger

1. A marriage over the broomstick
2. A marriage behing the church

1. She wears her heart on her sleeve
2. She wears her heart in her hand

1. He’s not dry behing the ears yet
2. He’s got milk on his lips

1. Rotten to the core
2. Rotten to the marrow

1. Soaked to the skin
2. Soaked to the bones

1. Sound as a bell, as fit as a fiddle
2. As healthy as an apple

1. They are as thick as thieves,they are hand in glove
2. They are like nail and flesh

1. To be a butterfingers
2. To have cloth hands

1. To be blind as a beetle
2. Not to see three (people) on a donkey

1. To be bored stiff/bored to tears
2. To be as bored as an oyster

1. To be three sheets in the wind
2. To be as drunk as a barrel

For window-shopping, the French say ‘window-licking’.

If you have any contribution or comment, go ahead!

[Jamie (K)]

English: It's all Greek to me.
German: That's a Bohemian village to me.
Czech (i.e., Bohemian): That's a Spanish village to me.

English: She gave him the cold shoulder.
Czech: She hit him with a basket.

English: Blood is thicker than water.
Czech: I'm closer to my shirt than I am to my coat.

After someone sneezes:
Germany: Gesundheit!
UK: Bless you!
US: Bless you! or Gesundheit!

English: Snug as a bug in a rug.
Czech: Like a fish in water.

[Conchita]

Isn't it fun to look at life from other perspectives?: