The bored panda shared an article about non-english phrases and their literal meaning. Some of the examples are really strange and funny at the same time.
1. Take care of your own circus.
2. Another monkey?
“Nu komt de aap uit de mouw”
Language: Dutch
English equivalent: Now it’s starting to make sense
Literal: Now comes the monkey out of the sleeve— Emir (@JustEmir1) July 18, 2019
3. Well, it’s true.
“Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof.”
Language: German
English equivalent: nobody said it was easy
Literal translation: life is not a pony farm
— sandy.tif 🏳️🌈 (@Kair0s) July 18, 2019
4. Burn.
“Más fome que bailar con la hermana”
Language: Spanish (Chile)
English Equivalent: “Lame”
Literal: “That’s more disappointing than dancing with your sister” 😂
— Austin (@A_Rich7) July 18, 2019
5. Because we always throw patatos out of the window.
«любовь не картошка не выбросишь в окошко»
Language: Russian
English Equivalent: love isn’t a material object you can’t just get rid of your feelings
Literal: “love is not a potato, do not throw it out of a window”— stuart fiddle (@stuartfiddle) July 18, 2019
6. Sounds like a fantastic dream.
“Ich glaud mein Schwein pfeift”
language: german
meaning: I believe I’m dreaming
literal: I think my pig whistles
— Daydream (@paudotcom) July 19, 2019
7. You can’t sit with us.
“Quién te ha dado vela en este entierro?”
Language: Spanish
English Equivalent: “Who said you could intervene?”
Literal: “Who gave you the candle in this funeral?”
— A Tre P🦖 (@_atreep_) July 18, 2019
8. The bean life chose me.
Takav mi grah pao.
Language: Bosnian.
English equivalent: it is what it is
Actual translation: That’s the beans that fell on me
— DJ🌱 (@CtrlAlt_D4LIDA) July 18, 2019
9. Oh well..
“Zwei Dumme, ein Gedanke”
Language: German
English equivalent: “great minds think alike”
Literal: “two dumb people, one thought”
I love it so much because in English it indicates that a shared thought equals intelligence, whereas in German it just says both are equally stupid
— Luisa (@luisa0797) July 18, 2019
10. That’s a sad piece of meat.
German: “Kummerspeck”
English: Excess weight put on by emotional overeating.
Literal translation: Grief bacon.
— chandler (@channndler96) July 19, 2019
11. Auch.
Spanish: planchar mis orejas
English meaning: take a nap
Literal translation: iron my ears
— andrea🌸 (@wiiingeeet26) July 18, 2019
12. ‘I have a bigger fish to fry’
German: “das ist mir Wurst”
English: i dont care/it doesn’t matter to me
Literally: “this is sausage to me”— emma (@ooblyjubily) July 18, 2019
13. That’s pretty sweet.
“an bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas más é do thoil é”
language: gaeilge/irish
english equivalent: “i wish you a happy life”
literal: “may cold rains never fall upon your head”
— moose 🦌 (@tiemoose) July 18, 2019
14. And we end the list with this beautiful meaning.
most people know “shalom” is used for hello and goodbye, but the literal meaning is “peace”. biblically, shalom is more along the lines of true inward peace and wholeness, so saying shalom to somebody is really wishing for their whole being to be filled with peace and i love that
— jakey wakey (@parttimewinner) July 18, 2019
Do you already follow us on Instagram?
