Daft proverbs Created 18 years ago2006-01-15 06:11:27 UTC by Seventh-Monkey

English being a second language to so many of you, do you know any proverbs (y'know, supposedly-wise sayings) in your native language which, when translated into English, sound really silly?

Just occured to me when a Russian one saying "when money talks, the truth stays silent" :D.

"when money talks, the truth stays silent"

That's pretty true..

We have a nice folk saying:

"You're as pale as chicken shit"

I'm pretty sure that SpaG knows loads more..

"He's so thievish, that he jerks with his ass when he walks"

From

"han ?r s? tjuvaktig, att han knycker med r?ven n?r han g?r."

Hahahahah..
Nice one...

Dio non paga il sabato

God doesn't pay on Saturday (im half italian)

What does that mean? :

He just said so? :S
Dio non paga il sabato = God doesn't pay on Saturday?

I know a popular russian joke (though I cant confirm this)... this is sort of the same thing.

A man is waiting in the hospital, his wife is in labour. An hour or so later the doctor comes out with a baby in his arms and says.

"Congratulations, you have a baby girl."

The man is really happy and asks to hold the baby. Before he can reach out his arms the doctor grabs the baby by one of its legs and starts smashing it against the wall like a club.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Says the father.

"Its ok, baby was born dead."

Man who stand on toilet high on pot.

Semper Fidelis

It is Latin for "always faithful"

The US marine corps use it but they simplify it to Semperfi

and

"Skill is good, friendship is better"

Thats the motto of my css clan xTc

Tycell: heard that one. Why is it Russian? :

Man who walk sideways through airport turnstile is going to Bangkok.

woman who sits on cheifs lap gets honourable discharge! Corny indeed

Tycell: heard that one. Why is it Russian?

I heard it was russian, does sound... odd for an English joke. I thought it was funny anyway

thats a great one rabid, I stared at it for a second then just started laughing my ass off

"un bon tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras"
(Jean de la Fontaine, France, 1621-1695)
http://www.jdlf.com/lesfables (french website dedicated to this guy)

Almost never said, but often thought, could be understood as "a good here is better than two you'll have it" : it is a proverb who says it's much better when somebody who owes you something he/she gives you back once right now, instead of telling you dozens of times you will have it later, and more, much more ...

"il vaut mieux entendre ?a que d'?tre sourd"
(old popular french proverb)

could be understood as "it's (still) better to hear that that to be deaf" : it means when you hear something really, really stupid, well ... it's still better to be able to hear such idiot things that to not be able to hear anything anymore ...

"Rien ne sert de courir, il faut partir ? point"

An old proverb from de la Fontaine, never said but so much actual : it could be translated as "to run is useless, you must start the right time", which means it's wrong to think you can take shortcuts to do something that need work, effort and time, like for example a nub who thinks he can (quickly) become famous with just decompiling dust2 and adding some crates piles and telling everybody "hey, I did it !!" ...

Well this is an lame swedish joke...
Once upon a timend it was sanded =
Det var en g?ng och den var sandad =
It was an road and it was sanded

You didnt translate it directly!!1
So it is actually
(you have)Planted your last potatoe...

"nu har du allt skitit i det bl? sk?pet"

meaning: Now you really pooped in the blue locker.

"nu har du allt satte sk?gget i brevl?dan"

meaning: Now you?re really suck with the beard in the mailbox.

Wow, those are weird, Tosse. Just the stuff I was looking for :D.

Bacco, tabacco e Venere riducono l'uomo in cenere

Wine, women, and tobacco can ruin a man

another italian one! sooo true!!!!

methinks tosse is joking?

An English saying I thought of today that sounds odd when you think of it...
When somthing isnt really you area of expertese yhou night say:
Thats not really my kettle of fish.

or Thats a whole different kettle of fish altogether.

loads of people use it but its quite wiered... kettle of fish??

"Finns det hj?rterum, finns det sj?rterum"
Meaning
"If there's room for the heart, there's room for the ass"

ok are you just translating shit or what

@Crysal: Well who isnt...

Haha. What's that meant to mean exactly? Sexual?

Hahahahahaha, thats great.

No, not really. It's quite commonly used when there's not enough room in say, a couch or a room.

aahhh... that makes more sense lol

I had never heard it before and therefore I think its great. Deal with it or die via constipation! Let the revolution begin!

"Smaken ?r som baken, delad"

taste is like the ass, divided.

you may have noticed that many swedish sayings are about the ass. I don't know why though

Thats certinaly an orignal proverb to say the least.

"a good here is better than two you'll have it" : it is a proverb who says it's much better when somebody who owes you something he/she gives you back once right now, instead of telling you dozens of times you will have it later, and more, much more ...

We have one saying here in Norway that says "det er bedre med ?n fugl i h?nden enn ti p? taket" or something like that. Translated to English: "it's better to have one bird in your hand than ten on the roof".

@Coffe: Do you actually think that they are the same everywhere?

in sweden it's "one bird in your hand is better than ten in the woods"

Heres one:
"Zodis pauksciu iseina, jauciu sugrizta"

Direct transliation:
"The word comes out like a bird and comes back as a bull"

The bird one sounds like this:
"Geriau paukstis rankoje, negu virs galvos"

Direct transilation:
"Better a bird in the hand than a bird over the head"

lol, nice one daub

The Russians say "titmouse in hand is better than crane in sky.".

Interesting. It's all variations of the same thing

Yeah. They have "between hammer and anvil", too, wheras in English it's the terrible "between a rock and a hard place".

"envis som en r?d gris"

meaning: stubborn as a red pig :S

@fearian: no im not joking...