‘What quirky expressions have you heard from non-English speakers that make you smile?’ – 21 sayings that will tickle you pink

Anyone who has declared themselves at sixes and sevens or said something is a piece of cake will be well aware that the English language has some expressions which are a bit odd, when you really think about them.

But it turns out we’re not alone and in fact every other language has some weird turns of phrase too.

Over on the AskUK subreddit, user Box_of_rodents shared their experience of the phenomenon…

‘What quirky expressions have you heard from non English speakers, directly translated, that make you smile?’

And they kicked things off like this.

‘I work with French and Belgian colleagues who speak English very well (far better than my broken school boy French). Occasionally, someone will come up with a direct translation of a phrase in English, from French. During a bit of a heated discussion, a colleague said in exasperation, ‘ Ah… do you think I a six weeks rabbit huh?!’

‘Pretty bemused, I didn’t know what to make of it, until I looked it up. It’s to describe foolishness or gullibility in that apparently, a rabbit up to the age of six weeks, is not very bright and easy prey. I thought it a very quaint little saying that makes me smile when I hear it mentioned, but hasn’t been that often.

‘What saying last have you heard in the workplace like this?’

Delightful. And lots of other people chipped in with some of the favourites they’d heard, like these…

1.

‘Complimented a Korean colleague on her studious nature (she was working and studying for her Masters) and she replied that she was fed up with being studious and would much prefer to be playdious.’
–OccidentalTouriste

2.

‘I worked in a call centre and was taking down a customer’s details. She wasn’t a native English speaker and when I got to her email address she didn’t know the word for the @ symbol and called it “the little monkey”.’
–LastofAcademe

3.

‘”Not unless you go on your knees and please me” (she wanted to say beg, but “beg” and “please” is the same word in her native language).

-My colleague when another colleague was asking her a massive favour and she wanted to make it a bit more “theatrical” as a joke.’
–Pancovnik

4.

‘Brazil has a ton of these and they’re usually food related:
Chupa essa manga – go suck a mango (deal with it).

‘A batata está assando – the potato is baking (someone is in trouble).’
–Master-Necessary7560

5.

‘I was having a bit of trouble from an older bloke trying to push me around in a pub when I was 15 (yes it’s was a long time ago and I was ugly so I looked older).

‘This huge Polish guy appeared out of nowhere, picked him up by the scruff of his neck and in this deep thundering Polish accent declared to him “You don’t do the fighting in this pub! I do the fighting in this pub”.
I still laugh about it today every time I think about it.’
–rezonansmagnetyczny

6.

‘Some favourites of mine in Brazilian Portuguese translate to “go pick up little coconuts”, which means basically mind your own business. And, relating to a man who is punching above his weight “she’s too much sand for your little truck”.’
–sv21js

7.

‘A German student I knew at university spoke excellent English, but she’d only been taught very formal English in a classroom setting; so she didn’t know many English idioms and colloquial expressions and would translate German ones directly. A few that I remember:

‘It’s all sausage to me = I don’t care/I’m not bothered/It doesn’t make much difference.

‘I only understand railway station = That’s gibberish/It’s all Greek to me (I think this one is a reference to incomprehensible station announcements).

‘Mouth shut, monkey dead’ = similar to “Bob’s your uncle”.

‘They don’t have all the cups in the cupboard = they’re crazy/silly/unintelligent.’

–Alternative-Emu2000

8.

‘”Now comes the monkey out of the sleeve.”

‘Used when some important but previously unshared element is revealed. It’s Dutch/Belgian. I have a bunch of these because I’ve worked in Belgium for the past 20 years but that one is my favourite.’
–Electriccheeze

9.

‘My Belgian coworker told me I need to put a pepper in my ass. Belgians and the Dutch have some really odd phrases.’
–Alert_Breakfast5538

10.

‘A lot of them revolve around rear ends as well. If you are fortunate you are said to have “fallen arse into the butter”.’
–Electriccheeze

11.

‘I am a native Cantonese speaker. The other day my colleague (an Aussie) asked me when I would organise another karaoke trip for the team as a social thing.

‘Last time I did it, hardly anyone replied. Some said ‘maybe’ and I had to chase multiple times before I could make a booking. I responded, ‘Not doing it again. It was like pulling a cow up a tree last time.’

‘My colleague gave me a very funny look. Only then I realised I had translated a very Chinese saying (拉牛上樹) to describe a difficult task straight into English.’
–Frodora

12.

‘Instead of ‘underneath’ , my Polish mate used to say ‘under the neath’. Fantastic stuff.’
–Dyalikedagz