Sayings: logical/illogical/translated

badjak said:
:)
badjak said:
Not sure if this will work...
But as a non-native English speaker I wonder about some sayings, while at the same time sometimes translate some Dutch ones directly, causing some hilarity :)

So, gimme yours (translated and all)

Wondering about
" You can't have your cake and eat it"
If I got my cake, I am going to eat it! What the #$&#
To me, it should be "you can't keep your cake and eat it" :)

"Break a leg" for good luck????

Then translated ones (crude translation, sorry)
He (m/f) who burns his ass, has to sit on the blisters
(Meaning, if you do something silly, you have to suffer the consequences)

Any one else got some?
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Not being able to eat your cake just means you can't have everything you want. Break a leg comes from the theater. It is a wish of good luck for a performer prior to the performance.

My favorite one for cooking comes from my mother. "If it doesn't have garlic it must be dessert." She also used to say "viene como la muerte en bicicleta" Translated from Spanish it says "It is coming like death on a bicycle." In English we might say "Trouble is just around the corner."
 
Off the top of my head.

Means something you can remember quickly and don't have to put any thought into before answering. I used it last night when answering a question about male mythological creatures.
 
“Me an’ ‘im are ‘bout tah have a come tah Jesus meetin’.” - meaning, I am about to have a very direct and probably unpleasant (for him) conversation with someone, where I explain bluntly how they’ve messed something up (usually a relationship or their life in general) and what they need to do to fix it.

Somewhat related to one of my FIL’s favorites (which can have two meanings): “He’s about to find out where the bear shit in the buckwheat!” - that can mean something similar to the “come to Jesus meeting” described above, but it can also just mean that someone’s about to get an unpleasant surprise, like if you see a fellow backing up his car and he’s going to reverse into a post, and he doesn’t realize it - “Watch this fellow here…he’s about to find out where the bear shit in the buckwheat!”
 
TastyReuben said:
“Me an’ ‘im are ‘bout tah have a come tah Jesus meetin’.” - meaning, I am about to have a very direct and probably unpleasant (for him) conversation with someone, where I explain bluntly how they’ve messed something up (usually a relationship or their life in general) and what they need to do to fix it.

Somewhat related to one of my FIL’s favorites (which can have two meanings): “He’s about to find out where the bear shit in the buckwheat!” - that can mean something similar to the “come to Jesus meeting” described above, but it can also just mean that someone’s about to get an unpleasant surprise, like if you see a fellow backing up his car and he’s going to reverse into a post, and he doesn’t realize it - “Watch this fellow here…he’s about to find out where the bear shit in the buckwheat!”
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I forgot what country you say you are from? JK. Seriously though, it does often amaze me that I can read and recognize sayings from other countries but some (most) of the stuff folks down your way say is stuff I have never heard before...and I've said it before but just in case some people don't know, TR and I live in the same state just a few hours away from each other!
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I forgot what country you say you are from? JK. Seriously though, it does often amaze me that I can read and recognize sayings from other countries but some (most) of the stuff folks down your way say is stuff I have never heard before...and I've said it before but just in case some people don't know, TR and I live in the same state just a few hours away from each other!
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Which one was unfamiliar to you? The one about the bear, if it’s that one, that’s from my FIL, so NY state in that case.

Another saying he had…doesn’t really mean anything, but when he’d sneeze, you know that sort of guttural sound you make at the end of a sneeze? He’d sneeze and it would come out like this:

“Ahhh…AHHH…SHOOO…it said the sparrow, let’s eat!” - like, “Shit said the sparrow, let’s eat!” :laugh:
 
TastyReuben said:
Which one was unfamiliar to you? The one about the bear, if it’s that one, that’s from my FIL, so NY state in that case.

Another saying he had…doesn’t really mean anything, but when he’d sneeze, you know that sort of guttural sound you make at the end of a sneeze? He’d sneeze and it would come out like this:

“Ahhh…AHHH…SHOOO…it said the sparrow, let’s eat!” - like, “Shit said the sparrow, let’s eat!” :laugh:
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No, none of those above are familiar. Maybe he made those up?

I would have to go back through and pick through your posts but I think all of them but maybe 2?
 
JAS_OH1 said:
No, none of those above are familiar. Maybe he made those up?
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I’m a little surprised by the “come to Jesus” one, as I’ve even heard that in TV shows. The reason I posted it was because my manager’s manager said it in a group meeting earlier this week. He was late joining our meeting and said he’d “…just had a come to Jesus meeting with <his manager>.” :laugh:

I do think there is a somewhat similar saying in the UK - “home truths,” like “I’m going to tell you a few home truths!” - I’m about to tell you something about yourself, and you’re not going to like it.

We used to watch Eastenders when we lived there (gritty UK soap) and I think that phrase was said in just about every episode! :laugh:
 
Another one we heard a lot in the military: “Shit rolls downhill” - meaning when your supervisor’s supervisor gave them something unpleasant to do, it was eventually going to make it to you…but if you were lucky, maybe you had someone under you that you could pass it along to. :laugh:
 
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