Idioms - The "RichText" of Global Cultures

Idioms hold a special place in languages all around the world. They make you feel inferior when they're from your own language and you don't understand them. I know I feel pretty stupid. Or at least curious. In the past, my parents always spoke in Hindi [my mother tongue] when they didn't want me to understand certain things. At the moment, I thought it was about stuff my virgin mind didn't need to worry about. I was all about cotton candy and lollipops.

And then all of a sudden, without warning my allowance was cut in half - that's when I figured out what they were talking about. Go figure. We were poor. And just like that no more cotton candy.

I like to find some humor in my impoverished childhood. I know what you're thinking... he's gonna make fun of poor people and thats messed up. Well Hey! ... I lived it. So, I'm allowed. Its kinda like black people and how they can say... 

Yeah so where was I? Poverty ... that's right.

Sometimes we didn't have food. So we ate Ramen Noodles dammit. That's what poor people do.

Sometimes we didn't have flavor in our food. Actually, we never had flavor in our food. We couldn't afford ranch dressing. Ketchup packets were always free... so I ate almost everything with ketchup. I vividly remember eating stale carrots with ketchup. Can carrots get stale? Who the hell knows. They tasted stale. And dammit, I was gonna dip them in ketchup if I wanted.

Don't get me wrong - I loved my childhood - it just felt like I was re-living Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection. Survival of the fittest.

I digress. 

Back to Exotic Idioms from around the world.

What is an idiom?...

Wikipedia defines an idiom as a phrase that cannot be determined by the literal definition of the phrase itself, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use e.g. It's a small world

Things you should know...

Idioms are unique to different cultures and contribute to the richness of a language

Idioms Usually do not cross language boundaries.  

Idioms are the hardest things to pick up when learning a new language

Here is a list of interesting idioms/slang from different languages...

Wiggle your bucket [in Mexican Spanish] means to dance

Elegant lion [in Hindi] means attractive woman

To get one's eyes stolen [in Japanese] means to be dazzled

Ahahana! [in Hawaiian Pidgin/Slang] means Shame on you! You're gonna get it!

You come eat my house [in Hawaiian Pidgin/Slang] is A dinner invitation

Taxed [in Hawaiian Pidgin/Slang] means Mugged

You like beef? [in Hawaiian Pidgin/Slang] means Would you like to fight?

To be born with a silver spoon in the mouth [in Hindi] means to be born rich

To smell milk in the mouth [in Turkish] means to be innocent

To become a goat [in French] means to become extremely angry

Chinese Whispers [in British English] means to gossip

To hang oneself [in Mexican Spanish] means to get married

I really like that last one.

Lost in Translation:

Coca Cola first entered the Chinese market with a string of Mandarin characters that was pronounced as "ko-ka-ko-la"  This literally translated into phrases like "female horse fastened with wax" and "bite the wax tadpole." Eventually, Coca Cola formulated the group of characters "K'o K'ou K'o Lê," which loosely translates into "To make the mouth happy."

Mistranslations happen everyday and cause many problems.  But that doesn't mean we can't laugh at them.