I laughed so hard with these! My favorite Greek after the translation is the last one! I'm Greek by the way...
There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again.
English, but possibly not unheard of elsewhere. 'All talk and no trousers' - One who boasts but is unable to deliver. 'Argue the toss' - Refusal to accept a decision. 'Bent as a nine bob note' - No such note ever existed, thus the person is untrustworthy or corrupt. 'Black as Newgate's Knocker' - a bad situation (Newgate - a notorious prison so it's (door) knocker spelt trouble) Grabbed from: https://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/country/british+english.html
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me (?) 1/ I've heard this as All mouth and trousers. I think the point about the trousers (as opposed to no trousers) is that what's in your trousers could merely be something in your trousers, and not the real you. 2/ Insert whatever denomination of imaginary money you fancy; note, the fourpenny piece DOES exist...in Maundy money,
I thought only lithuanians use this one. To smoke the eyes - To deceive somebody To poke the eyes - To be in a clear, visible place / To shame To shred the eyes - To nag / To reproach cheekily To shepherd the eyes - To admire some sight Eye to eye - Face to face To climb to the eyes - To be insistent/intrusive Flay oneself out - make every effort To lose a head - to rush Raining cats and dogs - very strong rain When Pigs fly - something that won't happen ever One hand washes another - to support people in dirty works To sit under a wing - to be watched over, taken care of
All common in English. Although it's usually "Pigs might fly", in response to "I'm going to be president", or some other similarly unlikely statement. As I recall, "One hand washes another" is used in the musical Chicago - although it's possibly only in the film version. And it means that both parties will benefit from the support, and without any suggestion of dirty works.
Maybe in Chicago " one hand washes another " means that, but here the meaning is different. I don't really know which idioms English speaking countries uses, simply I wrote the ones that we often use. Okay, what about these: Why are you sitting here like a broad in a turnips? Neither to the fence nor to the stake ( it's something like neither here nor there, but I don't know how to translate this correctly ). Put your teeth on the shelf.
1/ The musical Chicago. Made into a film starring Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/one+hand+washes+the+other+(and+both+wash+the+face) 2/ Never heard them! But Why are you sitting here like a broad in a turnips?... a broad what? Or do you mean a prostitute?...and a (singular) turnips (plural)??? or do you mean a turnip's (possessive)? In which case, what is the noun that is possessed by the turnip? Presumably the meaning is you're just sitting there feeling sorry for yourself. A bit like Why are you standing there with your arse in your hand?
Broad - old woman, or something like that ( is this word correct? ); turnips plurar. It means, for example, someone is sitting on a bench, coutch, etc., you tell them " hey, move a little, you're sitting like a broad ( old woman; ) in a turnips ( means you have no place to sit, because they are taking all the space ). In English this sounds very odd, but in lithuanian we are used to it, our grandmothers say that all the time. By the way, to put teeth on a shelf means that if you don't have money (spend all of them for e.g.), then you have nothing to eat, so you might as well put them on the shelf.
"Broad" = prostitute where you're from? To a midwestern American, it's simply a slightly outdated word for "woman". More recent than "dame", my dad used it interchangeably with "gal", but he's in his seventies now, so it's probably very slightly offensive, but I never connected it to sex work. Oh no, my dad's life becomes clearer now:
You're right, not quite up to speed on my 'Murrican! Although I always got the feeling that it was derogatory. Makes the original, ...sitting like a broad in turnips(no article)...more comprehensible. But, why turnips? Are Lithuanian benches somehow designed to resemble turnips? Or are Lithuanian old women famous for sitting in a field of turnips?
I don't know why turnips, it's not like it would be our national food. It would be more understandable if they would sit in a field of potatos.
if brains were shit you'd be constipated = your stupid the best part of you ran down your mothers leg dont do as i do, do as i say my father
