Even Greener Pastures
Language Learning => Questions about the Use of Language => Topic started by: Nikola on March 29, 2019, 01:46:52 pm
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No, a spideog would be a watery drop on the end of your nose, a bogey would just be smuga.
I see! The runny one would be nudle (noodle) in Czech ;D
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The one about the flea is a brilliant false friend, though. In German, jemandem einen Floh ins Ohr setzen means to make a suggestion to someone they are then unable to stop thinking about.
Italian has the same saying as in German, mettere una pulce nell'orecchio a qualcuno, with the same meaning.
Coligno, you mentioned "spideog" (robin). Does it mean bogey? Because we call bogey holub (pigeon).
No, a spideog would be a watery drop on the end of your nose, a bogey would just be smuga.
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In English you can also have a frog in your throat [be hoarse], a flea in your ear [having been sternly rebuked] or a monkey on your back [be addicted to something].
Ditto for the frog: einen Frosch im Hals haben
The one about the flea is a brilliant false friend, though. In German, jemandem einen Floh ins Ohr setzen means to make a suggestion to someone they are then unable to stop thinking about.
Oh, and does anybody else get einen Ohrwurm (earwig/earworm)? It's a catchy tune, seen as worming its way into your ear.
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Thanks everyone, I think we've put together a little farm/zoo now. Also, special thanks to Jerry for not mentioning crabs.
Coligno, you mentioned "spideog" (robin). Does it mean bogey? Because we call bogey holub (pigeon).
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In Irish snag is a kind of bird (snag breac "speckled snag" is a magpie, snag darach "snag of-oak" is a woodpecker), but if you have a snag on you, it means you have hiccups (incidentally, snagcheol "snag-music" means "jazz").
If you have a muc (pig) on your brow, then you're scowling.
If a daol (beetle) hits you, you get a sudden urge to do something.
A cearc (hen) in your armpit is a bubo or swollen lymph node, but if someone has tinneas na circe ("the hen's sickness") then they're just fidgety.
If you have a cuil (fly) on you, then you're in an angry mood.
If you have a spideog (robin) on your nose, then you need a tissue.
If you have gliomóga (lobsters) on your eyes, it means your eyes are popping out of your head.
In English you can also have a frog in your throat [be hoarse], a flea in your ear [having been sternly rebuked] or a monkey on your back [be addicted to something].
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Yes, of course, Nikola, how could I forget: Hühneraugen! :D
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We don't have crow's feet but we do have goosebumps (husí kůže). Kocovina (hangover) is also related to cats (kočka, kocour), that's a good one.
Here's another one: psotník (pes = dog) It's an outdated expression for a disease (more likely multiple diseases) that were a common cause of infant deaths one hundred years ago. It involved various cramps and seizures.
And you can have a chicken eye (kuří oko) on your toe = corn/callus.
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Ditto for:
cancer = Krebs
crow's feet = Krähenfüße
goosebumps = Gänsehaut (goose skin)
And same as in Czech, we get Hautwolf (skin wolf), or we say sich einen Wolf laufen (literally: to run yourself a wolf, i.e. to walk/run until you get sores on your skin).
Additionally, there's the self-inflicted Kater (tomcat), i.e. a hangover, which even works as a verb: verkatert sein (to be hung over).
Oh, a man's thick neck is ein Stiernacken (a bull's neck). If the guy also has Schweinsäuglein (pig's eyes), I'd stay away from him.
Let's not forget Facies Leonina, or Leonine Facies, Latin for lion's face, or Löwengesicht. Among other things it's a sign of leprosy.
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I have ( or have had) in no particular order... crows' feet, pigeon toe, goosebumps, , a bee in my bonnet, butterflies in my stomach, ants in my pants.
I can be bull-headed, pig-headed, sheepish or just plain chicken.
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Maybe you're not wrong. You know how they say we swallow insects and spiders in our sleep... maybe you accidentally swallow chipmunks.
If you unwittingly swallow a spider, is that an arachcident?
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We don't have chipmunks here. You have to be a big rodent to make it in NY.
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Maybe you're not wrong. You know how they say we swallow insects and spiders in our sleep... maybe you accidentally swallow chipmunks.
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Personally, I blame most everything on squirrels. If they're too big to blame, then I blame their little cousins, chipmunks. Example: "My stomach hurts, it feels like two chipmunks are down there duking it out."
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This post is not about our wild side, nor is it about actual parasites in the human body. It's about a phenomenon that seems to occur across cultures: naming various health conditions after animals or blaming imaginary animals for them.
In Czech, "houser" (gander, male goose) is a condition resulting in lower back pain and decreased mobility. Basically, you walk a bit like a goose.
"Vlk" (wolf) is what you get when your backside gets sore from wearing the wrong clothes on a hot day. Originally, it meant any kind of bump, boil or protuberance on the body or even on a plant. The idea is that the wolf is there, eating your flesh similarly to "rak" ("rakovina" = the condition) = "cancer" in English.
In English, the skin condition called "ringworm" is a fungal infection, often mistakenly believed to be caused by an actual worm.
Can you think of any more examples? What's eating people in your country?