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Negative traits attributed to others | ||
Tags: Cultural Identity | Idiom | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Patchy Newbie Joined 4923 days ago 25 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English* | Message 41 of 74 07 July 2011 at 9:39am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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[QUOTE=mr_chinnery] An 'Irish waterfall' is when you inhale into your nostrils a mouthful of smoke. [/
QUOTE] In Ireland this is known as "French inhaling". 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Dreadslinger Newbie United States Joined 4688 days ago 18 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 42 of 74 07 July 2011 at 6:27pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
lol I knew I was forgetting one. "French inhaling" is what I've always heard it called here, too. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Neri Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 4658 days ago 16 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Japanese, Spanish | Message 43 of 74 09 September 2011 at 9:43pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Huh. In Japanese an all-you-can-eat buffet is バイキング料理 (Viking food). In English someone who lost a bet and doesn't pay up is said to 'Welsh'. Similarly if you cheat someone, perhaps by giving them less than they paid for, you're said to gyp them (from gypsy, which is a term for the Romani people... with connotations like that, I can see why they don't tend to like it). In French sarrasin is both an old term for Muslims and a still-common term for buckwheat (in English, the term is Saracen). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| jazzboy.bebop Senior Member Norway norwegianthroughnove Joined 5213 days ago 439 posts - 800 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian | Message 44 of 74 12 September 2011 at 1:11am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
That'll be because the Swedes originally popularised the idea of the buffet (as far as I'm aware anyway). We sometimes will call a buffet a smorgasbord (smörgåsbord in the original Swedish) and evidently the Japanese thought it more fun to call it "viking food". 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5523 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 45 of 74 23 March 2012 at 2:01pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
The same in Polish. ‘Wyjść po angielsku’.
In Poland one could say ‘Pardon my Latin’. If someone doesn’t understand anything from what was said, he can say ‘it was like sitting in a Turkish lecture’.
I’ve read that the origine of this phrase comes from a Czech movie titled ‘Nobody knows anything’ (Nikdo nic neví from 1947). People now use those two phrases (Czech movie/Nobody knows anything) to express the same meaning. Some other phrases that come to my mind: ‘to be picky like a French poodle’ ‘a Chinese volunteer’ someone who didn’t volunteer at all ‘like in Mexico/Saigon’ or literally ‘what Mexico!/what Saigon!’ meaning a chaotic situation Edited by pesahson on 23 March 2012 at 8:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| manish Triglot Groupie Romania Joined 5341 days ago 88 posts - 136 votes Speaks: Romanian*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 46 of 74 23 March 2012 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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The Romanian equivalent of the "Dutch" way of paying is "a plăti nemţeşte" (to pay the German way).
When someone doesn't understand something, you can ask them: "eşti turc?" (are you Turkish?) We probably have more that I can't think of right now... There are bound to be a lot in reference to Gypsies. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| onurdolar Diglot Groupie TurkeyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4447 days ago 98 posts - 147 votes Speaks: Turkish*, English Studies: Italian, German | Message 47 of 74 23 March 2012 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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This is a fantastic thread; i would like to add some examples from Turkish
Most famous one is "Fransız kalmak" ( being french ) meaning to be completely clueless about something, We have the term " Arap Saçı " ( arab hair ) and "işler arap saçına döndü " meaning " it became an arab hair used in situations became chaotic all of a sudden. In Turkish you can call someone "Monşer" ( mon cher ) to point out he is pretentious and ignorant You can say "Onda Arnavut inadı var" ( he is stubborn as an Albanian ) when someone is too stubborn. "Arnavut damarı tutmak" ( having an Albanian vein ) is used in the same meaning. "Çin malı gibi" ( like Chinese wares ) is used to point out something is very low quality "Alman Usulü" ( German way ) also exist in Turkey. The term "İngiliz Oyunu" ( English game ) refers to making sneaky plans edit: Ah also you can say "did it chinese way" to imply you had unconventional sex. There are also many references about Jewish and Roma people, Greeks and Armenians those that are way more insulting. ( those can be used as an insult themselves and one would be probably offended to be called armenian in turkey ) Edited by onurdolar on 23 March 2012 at 5:34pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| manish Triglot Groupie Romania Joined 5341 days ago 88 posts - 136 votes Speaks: Romanian*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 48 of 74 23 March 2012 at 6:46pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
We have this in Romanian as well, "chinezării", meaning Chinese wares or something of low quality. Edited by manish on 23 March 2012 at 6:47pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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