by Dictionary Scoop
To say that the English language is filled to the brim with quirky and baffling idioms is no groundbreaking news.
While we have previously delved into the inherent strangeness of the idioms we use every day, one of the most beautiful aspects of these phrases is how difficult they are to translate: tell a non-native English speaker that you are “head over heels” for them and you might only receive a weird look as a response. For every strange English idiom, there’s always an even stranger idiom that conveys the same meaning, though using entirely different images.
With that in mind, here are some unique equivalents of English idioms.
1–It’s all Greek to me
Whenever someone says “It’s all Greek to me” they are trying to convey how incomprehensible or difficult something is. In a way, this idiom makes perfect sense: English and Greek are extremely dissimilar, from the way both languages sound to the way they are written.
Similarly, the Czech language’s equivalent to this idiom also focuses on a completely dissimilar language to convey this feeling. The expression je to pro mě španělská vesnice literally translates to “It’s a Spanish village to me.”
2–Rekindle an old flame
To say that someone has “rekindled an old flame” means that they have rediscovered feelings for a former partner. In that sense, these idioms are fairly self-explanatory: the image of lighting up a fire perfectly summarizes the heat and excitement of passion. However, Italy’s answer to this idiom perplexingly focuses on an objectively less romantic image. Let’s put it this way: if you had to associate passion and intimacy with a vegetable, would you honestly pick a cabbage?
The Italian phrase cavolo riscaldato, the equivalent to “rekindling an old flame,” literally translates to “reheated cabbage.” If this doesn’t speak to you, we have good and bad news. The good news is that some regions of Italy use a variant of this idiom, minestra riscaldata, so you might prefer to use this one the next time you find yourself in “the Boot.”
The bad news is that this idiom doesn’t fare that much better, since it translates to “reheated soup.”
3–Third wheel
No one wants to be the third wheel, that friend caught in the awkward position of unwillingly chaperoning a date. While tricycles are definitely a thing, this idiom speaks to how useless a third wheel is to a two-wheeled vehicle like a bicycle. Moreover, an argument could be made that it also highlights how troublesome it would be to carry a third and motionless wheel: it is as awkward for the couple as it is for the third party.
In that sense, British English has a colorful idiom with the same meaning as “third wheel”: being an unwanted companion is known in the United Kingdom as “playing gooseberry.” The history behind this idiom comes from how chaperones would pretend to pick gooseberries to allow couples some intimacy during a date.
4–Having the Blues
The color blue has been associated with sadness since at least the late 19th century. “Having the blues” is a common idiom that describes not feeling great. There’s a reason why Blues music received this name: its slow chords and melancholic lyrics usually convey an atmosphere of sadness.
While the English language has a primary color to describe sadness, French is not so lucky: the phrase avoir le cafard, the equivalent of “having the blues,” literally means “to have the cockroach.” While definitively unpleasant, a point could be made that encountering a cockroach produces an unpleasant feeling not completely dissimilar to the blues.
5–Call a spade a spade
Quick question: if you had to choose the subject of our next idiom between a spade or a cat, would you even hesitate to choose the kitten? We know you wouldn’t: who in their right mind would pick a boring old spade over an adorable little furry bundle of joy?
Unfortunately for us English speakers, we are stuck with the idiom “to call a spade a spade” whenever we need to speak bluntly and in a straightforward manner. On the other hand, the French equivalent to this idiom is the phrase appeler un chat un chat, which translates to “to call a cat a cat.”
Tomorrow, more fun with other languages’ take on familiar English idioms.
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