I’ve always had a passion for learning languages, especially since I speak two starkly different ones. My first language is English and my native language is Urdu, which has some pretty funny idioms and phrases that have a different literal translation compared to their actual meaning. So share some idioms or phrases in your native language that have a funny literal translation but actually mean something completely different.
For example:
ہتھیلی پے سرسوں پھیرنا۔. Literal translation: To grind mustard seeds on the heel of your hand. Actually meaning: to do things at the last moment, AKA procrastinating.
#1
Sen. Old Yorkshire. Get thissen down to the shops! I got missen a bargain at the weekend!
#2
(Southern) English: “Well butter me sideways”. Fairly similar to the Australian saying “Well f**k me sideways”, but more PG because it’s the South and America.
#3
I’ve always found it interesting how in English when you want to insult someone you say motherf*er but in my language we say “(I) f your mother”
#4
So technically it isn’t a word but it is a word my entire friend group uses on a daily basis: Murp! It means Yes or I am happy in my friend group.
#5
Vegan = can’t hunt
#6
Igbo(Spoken in Nigeria):’I-ṅụ Panadol n’isi n’awa onye ọzọ’
Tr.: ‘Taking medicine for someone else’s headache
It means trying to get to someone else’s personal matters
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