Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
Was Hans über Hänschen erzählt, sagt mehr über Hans aus als über Hänschen
English translation:
What you say about others ..
German term
United States
Native German and native English
Native in: German 
, English
Works in: German to English, English
Was Hans über Hänschen erzählt, sagt mehr über Hans aus als über Hänschen
"Gleichwohl formen diese Geschichten bei den Zuhörern stets ein Bild des Gegenübers nach dem Motto: „Was Hans über Hänschen erzählt, sagt mehr über Hans aus als über Hänschen“.
Jan 12, 2014 09:29: Steffen Walter changed "Field (write-in)" from "Vascular" to "(none)"
Jan 13, 2014 12:43: Thomas Pfann changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"
PRO (3): BrigitteHilgner, Johanna Timm, PhD, Thomas Pfann
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Proposed translations
United States
Creativity wins in the long run
Native in: German (Variant: Germany) , English (Variant: US)
Works in: German to English
What you say about others ..
..reflects/reveals more about you than about them
..speaks volumes about you, not about them.
..puts you in a worse light than those you're whining about
| agree |
Trudy Peters
: Your second explanation
4 hrs
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Thanks, Trudy!
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| agree |
Gudrun Wolfrath
23 hrs
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Thanks, Gudrun!
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| agree |
Eleanore Strauss
: yes, the second one... nice!
3 days 46 mins
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Thanks, Elli!
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Whenever you point at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you
| agree |
Gudrun Wolfrath
: idiomatic
1 day 2 hrs
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Thanks Gudrun, hope you've gotten off to good start this year!
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What you say says more about you than it does about others.
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Note added at 6 hrs (2014-01-12 15:00:44 GMT)
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Alternatives:
What you say about others says a lot about you.
What you say about others says more about you than them.
What you say of others reflects on you.
Judge not, lest you be judged by your own words.
A little off-track:
"You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him." Audrey Hepburn
| agree |
Trudy Peters
: I like your second alternative
6 hrs
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| agree |
Phoebe Indetzki
19 hrs
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| agree |
Poostforoush
20 hrs
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| agree |
Gudrun Wolfrath
: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
1 day 2 hrs
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Reference comments
Online discussion about the proverb and an online use of it by a native German speaker
Hope that helps.
| agree |
BrigitteHilgner
: I don't think "Was Hans über Hänschen erzählt ..." is a common expression - I've never heard/read it before.
12 mins
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| agree |
writeaway
33 mins
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| agree |
mcbride
: "Was Haenschen nicht lernt, lernt Hans nimmermehr" - so lautet das bekannte Sprichwort
1 hr
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| agree |
Ines R.
: it refers in my opinion to the proverb proposed by Brian
3 hrs
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Discussion
Murad: This isn't "multiple terms". It's a single phrase.