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Linguaphile wrote:
suure kella külge panna
to attach onto the side of a big bell
meaning "to disclose; bring to light"
"an die große Glocke hängen" (to attach to the big bell)alles lapsekingadesse jääma
to still remain in child shoes
meaning "to be in its infancy; to be in its early stages"
"noch in den Kinderschuhen stecken" (to still be stuck in child shoes)haljale oksale jõudma
to reach a green branch
meaning "to become wealthy, to make something of oneself"
Car wrote:Some of your examples also exist in German.alles lapsekingadesse jääma
to still remain in child shoes
meaning "to be in its infancy; to be in its early stages"
"noch in den Kinderschuhen stecken" (to still be stuck in child shoes)
Linguaphile wrote:nokk kinni ja saba lahti
beak stuck and tail free
meaning "to get out of one difficult situation only to end up in another one"
Linguaphile wrote:Some may be calques from other languages, as this often happens, and I don't always know whether or not this is the case.
Car wrote:Some of your examples also exist in German.
Could it be that Estonian got some of them from German?
Naava wrote:Here's some more Finnish idioms and proverbs!
Linguaphile wrote:The Estonian version of the Finnish tehdä kärpäsestä härkänen (to make a bull out of a fly) is sääsest härja tegema (to make a bull out of a mosquito).
linguoboy wrote:This was a favourite of one of my math teachers, who I believe was from North Carolina. He also used to say "Sam Hill" (a euphemism for "damned hell"), e.g. "What in the Sam Hill d'you think you're doin'?"
linguoboy wrote:"If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas."
Rí.na.dTeangacha wrote:linguoboy wrote:"If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas."
Now I know where this comes from
Rí.na.dTeangacha wrote:linguoboy wrote:This was a favourite of one of my math teachers, who I believe was from North Carolina. He also used to say "Sam Hill" (a euphemism for "damned hell"), e.g. "What in the Sam Hill d'you think you're doin'?"
You Americans sure do love your euphemisms Gosh darn it!
Rí.na.dTeangacha wrote:linguoboy wrote:This was a favourite of one of my math teachers, who I believe was from North Carolina. He also used to say "Sam Hill" (a euphemism for "damned hell"), e.g. "What in the Sam Hill d'you think you're doin'?"
You Americans sure do love your euphemisms Gosh darn it!
Interesting! Maybe like it's just lying there now, not going anywhere - if you truly convince someone, the thing that you've convinced them of is there to stay.Rí.na.dTeangacha wrote:It reminded my of one of the terms for "convince" in Irish which is also very odd when translated literally;
rud a chur ina luí ar dhuine
to put something in its *lying on someone
*That's lying as in lying down, not not telling the truth (which would make more logical sense in many ways...)
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