Kaffi Posted December 7, 2014 Report Share Posted December 7, 2014 I would like to know the German expressions, a lot of them I guess are very similar to Norwegian and Swedish in both words and meaning.I know that Schnee von gestern , N: Snøen fra i fjor or Snøen om falt i fjor. Leave things in the past, don't drag it up again, as the snow from last year is not there anymore, and the snow from yesterday , is already here. As its history, let it be or commonly used , a thing of the past or water under the bridge.A pig in a poke ,N: Katten i sekken , to have something. Is it correct with "die Katze im Sack"?To be promised something to good and too much N: "lover deg gull og grønne skoger= promise you gold and green forests. What is the German form? En bjørnetjeneste , Å gjøre noen en bjørnetjeneste, in Norwegian is to do someone a favor that backfire's, help someone in a way that is not helpful at all. What do you say in German?When someone is very clumsy its said in Norwegian: Hun/han er som en elefant i et glasshus. He/she is like an elephant in a house of glass. How do you say this in German? When someone is very much in love , what do you say? N: Oppover ørene forelsket ; above the ears in love, an English saying is "Head over heels". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weltschoendenker Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Hello KaffiMy mother tongue is German, so I guess I'm pretty qualified to help you. Nevertheless it's often quite impossible to translate idioms to another language. But I will try my best 1. "die Katze im Sack" is the beginning of two different idioms: "die Katze im Sack kaufen" means foolishly accepting an offering without examining it first. This would be the translation of "buying a pig in a poke""die Katze aus dem Sack lassen" is another german idiom, that means "to lift a secret.2. The german form of this idiom would be "das Blaue vom Himmel versprechen" (=to promise the blue from the sky). It's also used in different constellations: "das Blaue vom Himmel lügen""das Blaue vom Himmel erzählen"3. I don't think we have an idiom for that.4. We have a really similar idiom for this: "Elefant in der Porzellankiste" (= elephant in crate full of porcelain"). We also have another similar idiom: "Vorsicht ist die Mutter in der Porzellankiste" (=Careful is the mother in the crate full of porcelain) which means "Safety first" or "Better safe than sorry."5. Our idiom of that is just the same as yours: "Über beide Ohren in jemanden verliebt sein"I hope I could help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chnuschti Posted September 1, 2015 Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 Hi, I know this reply is way to late, but I can`t let this false information stay uncommented. Å gjøre noen en bjørnetjenesteIn German we say: "Jemandem einen Bärendienst erweisen"Nr. 4 is only known to me as "Elefant im Porzellanladen" .... Maybe what weltschoendenker mentioned is a version that is used locally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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