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Proverbs, Adages, Idioms, and Witticisms from Around the World
- Thread starter colcifer
- Start date
stratovani said:For what you think is a good-looking girl, until you get close:
French - belle de loin, loin d'etre belle!
English - nice from far, far from nice!
It probably translates the same in many other languages as well!
We would call that a "50 yarder" in Scotland.
My grandfather had a number of Yiddish expressions. One of my favorites:
It doesn't hurt you when someone else gets kicked in the ass.
It doesn't hurt you when someone else gets kicked in the ass.
If you live in water, do not antagonise the crocodile.
A monkey knows not the taste of ginger (i.e. ignorant people do not know how to appreciate something).
Chicken at home is equivalent to pulses (i.e. the true worth of what one takes for granted is never appreciated)
Cumin in a camel's mouth (very little assistance for a large need)
If you've placed your head inside the mortar, it's no use fearing the pestle.
- All direct translations from Hindi
A monkey knows not the taste of ginger (i.e. ignorant people do not know how to appreciate something).
Chicken at home is equivalent to pulses (i.e. the true worth of what one takes for granted is never appreciated)
Cumin in a camel's mouth (very little assistance for a large need)
If you've placed your head inside the mortar, it's no use fearing the pestle.
- All direct translations from Hindi
For what you think is a good-looking girl, until you get close:
French - belle de loin, loin d'etre belle!
English - nice from far, far from nice!
It probably translates the same in many other languages as well!
We have a Turkish version of this.
The sound of the drums are nice from a distance.
"Unless a nation's life faces peril, war is murder."
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
2 I have heard but don't remember the sources:
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Every time you try to idiot proof the world, the world creates a better idiot.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Every time you try to idiot proof the world, the world creates a better idiot.
Maybe not exactly "foreign", but I had a friend from West Virginia who used to say this about stupid people:
"His brain's so small, if ya stuck it up an ant's ass, it'd be like flickin' a BB into a boxcar."
"His brain's so small, if ya stuck it up an ant's ass, it'd be like flickin' a BB into a boxcar."
hee hee
From Uganda:
A child does not laugh at the ugliness of its mother.
He who has diarrhea knows the direction of the door without being told.
I'm not too sure what these mean but I like them.
He who $hits fast don't $hit long..
My dad..
Don't let nobody pi$$ on you and call it rain..
My grandfather
My dad..
Don't let nobody pi$$ on you and call it rain..
My grandfather
The sound of the drums are nice from a distance.
And we have a version in Hindi, the wording of which is identical to this.
*edit*
New sig! Yay!
Practice 30 more years - Zen saying
it works on so many levels. I love the idea that I am never done learning or practicing what I already know.
it works on so many levels. I love the idea that I am never done learning or practicing what I already know.
- Dec 21, 2007
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- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
Loosely translated from the Hebrew:
If I do not stand up for myself, who will stand up for me?
If I only stand up for myself, what am I?
... and if not now, then when?
If I do not stand up for myself, who will stand up for me?
If I only stand up for myself, what am I?
... and if not now, then when?
