this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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In Finnish we have "kissanristiäiset" (literally means a cat's christening), which means some trivial and meaningless celebration/event.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Czech has a lot of them!

Dělá z komára velblouda.
He's making a camel out of a mosquito.
= He's making it seem like a bigger problem than it is.

Nemaluj čerta na zeď.
Don't draw an imp on the wall.
= Don't be pessimistic. Don't assume the most catastrophic scenario.

Jsem tam pečený vařený.
I'm there baked cooked.
= I go there a lot.

Dala mi košem.
She hit me with a basket.
= She dumped me, or rejected my (mostly romantic) offer or advances.

Dělá jako by se nechumelilo.
He's pretending like it's not heavily snowing.
= He's pretending like something doesn't concern him. He's nonchalant about a serious situation.

Kápni božskou!
Drip the divine! (Object implied. Probably "the divine truth")
= Tell the truth. Spill it.

Láme to přes koleno.
He's breaking it over his knee.
= He's forcing it.

Natáhnout bačkory / brka, zaklepat bačkorama
To stretch (one's) slippers / quills, to tap with (one's) slippers
= To die. To kick the bucket.

Padli jsme si do oka.
We fell into each other's eye.
= We hit it off.

Rozumí tomu jako koza petrželi.
He understands it like a goat understands parsley.
= He doesn't understand it.

Přišel jsem s křížkem po funuse.
I came with a little cross after the funeral.
= I came too late.

Házím perly sviním.
I'm throwing pearls to swines.
= I'm doing good work or acts of kindness that go underappreciated.

And I could go on :)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Like pearls to swine is a very seldom used idiom in English too, used very rarely and often in archaic/medievel/fantasy settings. Very interesting 2 languages have a shared idiom so neatly translated.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It's from the Bible.

"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." – Matthew 7:6

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