Multilingual folks: what are some odd idioms in your language(s)?

ALQ@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 93 points –

What are some (non-English) idioms, and what do they mean (both literally and in context)? Odd ones, your favorite ones - any and all are welcome. :)

For example, in English I might call someone a "good egg," meaning they're a nice person. Or, if it's raining heavily, I might say "it's raining cats and dogs."

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Finnish ones (some sayings here too):

  • "Ski into a spruce!" -> Get lost!
  • "So the forest answers as one calls into it" -> what comes around goes around
  • "If you reach for the spruce you'll fall into the juniper" -> don't bite more than you can chew
  • "to be like hit on the head with a piece of wood" -> to be baffled
  • "it went into the forest" -> something failed
  • "to have own cow in the ditch" -> to have their own hidden agenda behind a request or actions
  • "to throw the spoon into the corner" -> to die

Where does that last one come from?

I'm not 100% sure but I think it's from a time when spoons were rarer and everyone had their own spoon. So, to discard your spoon meant you're done with eating for good.