Off topic: I'm only posting this because I have a cross to grind. Thread poster: Tom in London
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Member (2008)
Italian to English
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In Quebec, they call this "perronisme", named aften Jean Perron, a former hockey coach and sports commentator famous for his slips of the tongue. He had an uncanny tendency to clumsily amalgamate various fixed expressions such as proverbs or sayings, to form a new one, that makes no sense (but because of that, can be funny as hell).
For example, "Reaching the light at the bottom of the barrel" comes from the expressions "Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel" and "Reaching the b... See more In Quebec, they call this "perronisme", named aften Jean Perron, a former hockey coach and sports commentator famous for his slips of the tongue. He had an uncanny tendency to clumsily amalgamate various fixed expressions such as proverbs or sayings, to form a new one, that makes no sense (but because of that, can be funny as hell).
For example, "Reaching the light at the bottom of the barrel" comes from the expressions "Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel" and "Reaching the bottom of the barrel".
Here's a small anthology, in French.
Ça s'est vendu comme des petits ponchos.
Mettre la charette en avant de la peau de l'ours.
Arriver comme un cheval sur la soupe.
Il a pris la foudre d'escampette.
Il n'arrête pas de tourner autour du pot aux roses!
Je commence à avoir le feu aux poudres.
Ça m'a mis l'astuce à l’oreille...
C'est vraiment charrié par les cheveux.
L'affaire Lindros se termine en queue de cheval
Il devrait plutôt mettre du vin dans son verre.
Ça se vend à la vitesse de l'équerre!
Il ne faut pas remettre à plus tard ce qui appartient à César
Il est temps de mettre les points cédilles et les barres obliques.
Paris ne s'est pas construit en plein jour !
Je ne tournerai pas ma langue par quatre chemins.
Il a vraiment besoin de redorer son plastron.
Un tiens vaut mieux que ce qui ne t'appartient pas
Il ne faudrait pas qu'il prenne sa lanterne pour le messie!
Il lui a remis la monnaie de son change.
Cette fois-ci, il sont accumulés au pied du mur.
Il ne faut pas tout prendre au pli de la lettre.
L'erreur est humide.
Il a intérêt à marcher sur des gants blancs.
www.increvables.com/perronismes.htm
[Edited at 2023-05-29 10:33 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Jean Dimitriadis wrote:
In Quebec, they call this "perronisme", named aften Jean Perron, a former hockey coach and sports commentator famous for his slips of the tongue. He had an uncanny tendency to clumsily amalgamate various fixed expressions such as proverbs or sayings, to form a new one, that makes no sense (but because of that, can be funny as hell).
Those are wonderful! "L'erreur est humide" 😂
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Paris ne s'est pas construit en plein jour !
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| Yoggi Berra. Not quite the same thing but certainly in the same vein | May 29, 2023 |
Berra-isms (colloquial expressions that lack logic) are now countless, and many of them are just attributed to Berra, even if he never actually said them. As he so perfectly put it: “I never said most of the things I said.” Here are 50 of our favorites.
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/03/the-50-greatest-yogi-berra-quotes
1. When you come to a fork in... See more Berra-isms (colloquial expressions that lack logic) are now countless, and many of them are just attributed to Berra, even if he never actually said them. As he so perfectly put it: “I never said most of the things I said.” Here are 50 of our favorites.
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/03/the-50-greatest-yogi-berra-quotes
1. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
2. You can observe a lot by just watching.
3. It ain’t over till it’s over.
4. It’s like déjà vu all over again.
5. No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.
6. Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.
7. A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
8. Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.
9. We made too many wrong mistakes.
10. Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
11. You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
12. You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.
13. I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four.
14. Never answer an anonymous letter.
15. Slump? I ain’t in no slump… I just ain’t hitting.
16. How can you think and hit at the same time?
17. The future ain’t what it used to be.
18. I tell the kids, somebody’s gotta win, somebody’s gotta lose. Just don’t fight about it. Just try to get better.
19. It gets late early out here.
20. If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
21. We have deep depth.
22. Pair up in threes.
23. Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.
24. You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.
25. All pitchers are liars or crybabies.
26. Even Napoleon had his Watergate.
27. Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.
28. He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.
29. It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.
30. I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won twenty-five games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.
31. I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.
32. I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.
33. I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
34. In baseball, you don’t know nothing.
35. I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?
36. I never said most of the things I said.
37. It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.
38. If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.
39. I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.
40. So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.
41. Take it with a grin of salt.
42. (On the 1973 Mets) We were overwhelming underdogs.
43. The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.
44. Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.
45. Mickey Mantle was a very good golfer, but we weren’t allowed to play golf during the season; only at spring training.
46. You don’t have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it’ll go.
47. I’m lucky. Usually you’re dead to get your own museum, but I’m still alive to see mine.
48. If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’. I didn’t like to work.
49. If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.
50. A lot of guys go, ‘Hey, Yog, say a Yogi-ism.’ I tell ’em, ‘I don’t know any.’ They want me to make one up. I don’t make ’em up. I don’t even know when I say it. They’re the truth. And it is the truth. I don’t know. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | It gets late early here too :-) | May 30, 2023 |
The same thing happens in Danish.
Given that Danish spelling is only slightly more logical than English, the older generations fume and despair when not rolling about laughing.
For instance, winters with frozen ponds were generally uncommon, but most people could remember one.
So ´There are no cows on the ice´ = all is well, no imminent danger
Now it probably suggests something like ´Your ice cream is OK, it´s vegan´
Or people say ´no ice on the cow´ ... See more The same thing happens in Danish.
Given that Danish spelling is only slightly more logical than English, the older generations fume and despair when not rolling about laughing.
For instance, winters with frozen ponds were generally uncommon, but most people could remember one.
So ´There are no cows on the ice´ = all is well, no imminent danger
Now it probably suggests something like ´Your ice cream is OK, it´s vegan´
Or people say ´no ice on the cow´ - and have no idea what they are talking about ...
Lots more examples, here for instance
https://wearebro.dk/blog/26-misforstaede-ordsprog-du-skal-undga
... but sorry, they are untranslatable! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 11:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Tom's original cartoon related to what in English is simply called "mixed metaphors". The six expressions being:
Skating on thin ice = Walking on egg-shells
Opening a can of worms = Being in hot water
Having your bread buttered on both sides = You made your bed, now lie in it
[Edited at 2023-05-30 09:31 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Samuel Murray wrote:
Tom's original cartoon related to what in English is simply called "mixed metaphors". The six expressions being:
Skating on thin ice = Walking on egg-shells
Opening a can of worms = Being in hot water
Having your bread buttered on both sides = You made your bed, now lie in it
[Edited at 2023-05-30 09:31 GMT]
I'm glad you clarified this Samuel.
There's light at the bottom of the barrel.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Samuel Murray wrote:
Having your bread buttered on both sides = You made your bed, now lie in it
That's not right. Having one's bread buttered on both sides is good. It means to profit from two things at the same time, especially when those things seem contradictory or incompatible.
Such as being a translator and also having a substantial income from other sources and not really needing to work.
| | | | Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 05:14
Member (2008)
English to French
| It's almost a national sport | May 30, 2023 |
I just bought the book "Il pleut des vaches qui pissent"
A free translation could be "it's raining dog eat dog"
| | | | MollyRose
United States
Local time: 04:14
English to Spanish
+ ...
| mixed idioms | May 30, 2023 |
They think they´re the cat´s bees.
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