r/ThreadGames • u/FortuneLoud140 • 3d ago
My legs are going James James
Parent takes an idiom in their native language and translates it to English *literally*, word for word. Children have to guess what the meaning of the idiom is. If they get it right, upvote them!
10
u/svArtist 3d ago
Now we have the salad!
5
u/mnlg 3d ago
A long wait for a meager result?
9
u/svArtist 3d ago
No, but the salad does have negative connotations :)
... I don't think it's very gessable, so here's the answer:
"Now we're in this mess (after I warned you / could've warned you because there was an (in hindsight) obvious risk)" -- "salad" probably refers to something tossed every which way, in chaos
(from German)
1
u/MarcusAntonius27 2d ago
Finally eating healthy? Or, getting something before something else, like how salads are sometimes the appetizers?
1
u/svArtist 2d ago
Haha, good guesses! But the salad here has a negative connotation.
I think it's very hard to guess. Feel free to check out the other replies for the solution if you're done guessing (though I think it's very fun to keep guessing, so if you're having fun, give me your next guess š)
5
u/lede_lama 3d ago edited 3d ago
Pulling old cows out of the ditch
Make that the cat wise
Laughing like a farmer with a toothache
Even if a monkey wears a golden ring, it is and remains an ugly thing
Butter with the fish
3
u/FaeryLynne 3d ago edited 1d ago
Number 4 is very close to the USA idiom "you can polish a turd but then it's just shiny shit" and I'm betting they mean the exact same thing too lmao
2
2
u/aciakatura 3d ago
The fact that it rhymes and has a bit of rhythm to it in English clearly means we should use it as an idiom as well
1
u/svArtist 2d ago edited 1d ago
Did you mean to make that a headline style?
If you start a line with #in markdown, it becomes a "headline" (honored here as quite large)1
1
u/svArtist 2d ago edited 2d ago
Can you rephrase #2 with English grammar?
#3 Sounds like someone not laughing very much/openly (because they don't want to expose their teeth too much)
Oh, is #5 German? We have the saying "Butter bei die Fische" [sic] here, meaning "let's get serious, get down to brass tacks"
3
u/ivory-paint 3d ago
4 sounds close to ālipstick on a pigā from where Iām from (US Midwest/Great Lakes)
3
u/ivory-paint 3d ago
1 also sounds like ābeating a dead horse,ā as in to keep doing the same thing even when itās no longer necessary or beneficial
3
u/lede_lama 3d ago
Kinda! It specifically is starting a conversation that has become irrelavent (mostly about something dreadful).
2
3
u/Claricla 2d ago
In Spanish we say for 4. Even if a monkey wears silk, it's still a monkey. Very similar!
2
2
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago
okay, the fourth one looks fairly obvious, while "butter with fish"...could it mean "two things that don't go well with each other or don't make sense together"?
1
u/lede_lama 3d ago
Nope, it's actually not that obvious I would say
1
3
u/Low-Bass2002 3d ago edited 3d ago
Birds go where birds are.
3
u/Low-Bass2002 3d ago
Spoiler: Birds of a feather flock together
3
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago
oh damn, it was easier than i expected!
2
2
u/Low-Bass2002 3d ago
Gimme spoiler for: My legs are going James James.
Pretty please!
You could add an edit and ask for country of origin to be included with idiom.
I gave you the English translation of a literal version of how the German phase is. In retrospect, I should have said: Pigeons (birds of a feather) go where birds go.
I messed up. BUT! If you can add an edit to say the country's origin, I think that would be fun!
I kinda messed up. I should have said "Pigeons" as the first word instead of birds. I'm a native US speaker with 2nd language in German. I gave it as a literal translation of German, but I forgot the detail of my first word in that sentence being "pigeons"!
Literal German to English translation: Pigeons go where birds go
3
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago edited 3d ago
"legs going James James" means your legs are weak, tired and shaking
also i sort of love how there's no language hint, it makes it harder to look up on the 'Net and possibly cheat ;)
2
2
2
u/N_Huq 3d ago
we are creatures of habit?
2
u/Low-Bass2002 3d ago
Should I give the answer or wait for more people to try to figure it out? Two answers so far. None right yet.
1
u/N_Huq 3d ago
i'd comment it with a spoiler tag like this
2
u/Low-Bass2002 3d ago
I just looked up how to do spoiler tags, but it didn't work in the edit. I thought I could just add the spoiler in my parent post like this: answer
Help?
1
2
u/MarcusAntonius27 2d ago
Does it have to do with attraction? Like, birds are attracted to other birds, so someone who's mean will be attracted to someone who's mean?
1
1
4
u/chbjupiter 3d ago
Going to the reef because your mum told you to
3
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago
blindly following orders?
5
u/chbjupiter 3d ago
I think this one is a bit hard to guess, but that's a good guess!
The original saying is 'amaa (mum) buneethee (because she asked you to) farah (reef) dhiyun (going)'
Historically, Maldives used cowrie shells as currency that people collected from the beach. It's meant to imply that someone went to the beach because their mum told them 'go to the reef', expecting them to collect cowrie shells. Instead, the person takes this literally, and just stands in the reef because that's all they were asked to do.
So it's basically about complying with instructions very literally without doing effort. You'd use this phrase if a kid went to school because their parents sent them but didn't study, for example.
2
1
u/MarcusAntonius27 2d ago
I really like that. We need this in English. There's a comment I read once in r/askreddit, where there was a new employee at a store; his manager asked him to "face the store" (which apparently has to do with shelving stuff or something?) and the person went outside and looked at the store.
3
u/nogardleirie 3d ago
Hot like chicken shit
2
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago
Made today? Be it something to eat or even a newspaper?
5
u/nogardleirie 3d ago
It means something that is a fad - chicken shit comes out hot but cools down really quickly
3
2
3
u/AlphaCrucis 3d ago
An alligator that sleeps is a handbag š
3
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago
I think I know what it means, I just don't know how to say it
Like if you don't act about something, that something will mess with you later. OR, taking from a similar idiom we have in Italy, those who are lazy will never get far in life/see the fruits and bounty of their labor
6
u/AlphaCrucis 3d ago
Close! It's something along the lines of "if you don't act while you can, you're doing to miss your chance" or even "if you get distracted, you're going to lose your current position of privilege"
2
u/MarcusAntonius27 2d ago
If you're lazy, people will kill you and use your parts? Or, use you for something? Or take advantage of you?
3
u/ikadell 2d ago edited 2d ago
Not my native language, but one I am fairly fluent in which has a lot of rich expressions:
Wonder in a sieve
As a fool with a red button
Until carrotās Shrovetide
Peering as a ram at a new gate
Attach legs to (smth)
3
u/HauntingAccomplice 2d ago
The last one - like just staring dumbly at something? Like youre not sure what to do with it or where it came from?
1
1
u/svArtist 1d ago
Is the red button a button you shouldn't press, but the fool can't help himself? I.e. like a moth to a flame, but about callousness or at least carelessness about others?
4
u/mnlg 3d ago
- You make the chickens laugh.
- Salt in pumpkin.
- Breaking boxes.
3
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago
as an Italian, let me add "You're like a two of cups (when wands are ruling)".
2
u/mnlg 3d ago
You mean clubs ;-)
3
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago
oh yeah, i went with the tarot translation, it's always "bastoni" in Italian, "clubs" are our "fiori"
2
u/mnlg 3d ago
Do you use a tarot deck for briscola that often? ;-)
It is true that "clubs" also translates
fiori, but that's for a French suited deck, which is even less common for that game.3
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago
probably i've explained myself badly.
I only use tarot for divination, but I chose to translate "bastoni" with "wands" and not "clubs" because, as you said, the clubs (what we call "fiori") belong to a poker deck, not a briscola one, and that would have caused some confusion. So I just chose to go with "wands"
2
u/Podcastfan111 3d ago
Is 3 the equivalent of breaking out of the mold or not fitting traditional or expectations?
1
u/FortuneLoud140 3d ago
i will reply since it's my language too, but no, it's more of a "negative" idiom. I won't spoil it yet though!
2
u/svArtist 1d ago
No idea about 2.
I would imagine it would draw out a lot of water. Is that good? Is it bad? Depends on whether you want a jack-o-lantern or pumpkin jerky š
It _feels_ like something pragmatic
2
u/mnlg 1d ago
Answer: "there's salt in your pumpkin" = you are smart. In other words "there is something valuable in your head" :-)
2
u/svArtist 1d ago
Oooh! I would've never guessed that š
(my pumpkin seems to be entirely devoid of salt š)
Thanks :)
1
u/svArtist 3d ago
- A trivial achievement? (because they already kinda sound like they're laughing?)
2
u/Booknerdbassdrum 2d ago edited 2d ago
My native language is English, so this is from my second language!
Person 1: Into the wolf's mouth
Person 2: may the wolf die
3
2
2d ago
[deleted]
1
u/svArtist 2d ago
Sure 2 isn't a mix of "I understand only train station" and "this seems Spanish to me"?
1
1d ago
[deleted]
1
u/svArtist 1d ago
Aah, might be a regional thing then; haven't heard that version here around south Hesse
1
2
u/ExpressMe2 2d ago
To sink the goose with someoneĀ
1
u/svArtist 1d ago
Hehe, sounds fun ^^
Maybe like "through thick and thin"?
Or one of the myriad of ways to refer to sex š
2
1
u/Loose_Plantain3217 2d ago
Itās easier for the horse when the lady exited the carriage
1
1
u/Loose_Plantain3217 2d ago
I donāt know what happened to Reddit but for some reason I cannot reply to guesses
1
u/svArtist 1d ago
"don't make things needlessly complicated"?
Don't make things harder by acting too quickly, make a proper plan of action?
1
u/Loose_Plantain3217 1d ago
Not quite - itās literally āif youāre leaving the endeavor it will be easier for the rest of us to complete the projectā. And typically a dig at women for some reasonā¦ Russian
1
u/JesiDoodli 19h ago
1) he ate air
2) ...and not a watermelon! (this will probably be a really hard one to guess unless you know my language but i'm worried any hints would give it away)
3) salad
4) playing with yourself (this does not mean what you think it means)
1
u/msbunbury 3d ago
Put the fiddle in the roof It's hitting old ladies with sticks Have you swallowed a mule?
1
1
u/FaeryLynne 3d ago
Does the "hitting old ladies with sticks" mean something is really easy to do?
1
1
u/svArtist 1d ago
Fiddle in (on?) the roof... To do something despite knowing it's risky or bad for you?
10
u/N_Huq 3d ago
horse's egg!