Of Idioms…

Since I am in Wales visiting my sister (she married an Englishman), I have been thinking a lot about idioms.  Those phrases that people use that make perfect sense to people with whom they share a nationality, but which cause a lot of head scratching for those who don’t.

For instance, in England, they use the phrase “lost the plot” to say someone is out of their mind.

In Brazil, the idioms have the added ‘confusion benefit’ of being in a different language.  Americans would refer to clunker cars as lemons, whereas in Brazil, the word for a car that’s a lemon is a pineapple.   I’m not sure why people associate poorly running vehicles with yellow fruit, but apparently we do.

In America, it rains cats and dogs, but in Brazil (were idioms based in reality) you would be more likely to be clunked on the head with a knife and fork than a cat or dog.

And then there are the phrases that when translated into English make no sense whatsoever.  In a bakery we were often helped with the phrase, “Pois não” which literally means, “Because No.”  Although, it might sound rude, it was an expression used to offer help.

"Sei la" literally means, "I know there."  It's used to mean, "I don't know."  So, apparently, if you know there, you don't know here.

"Legal” has the same meaning in Portuguese that it does in English, but it can also mean that something is “cool”.  This is helpful to know so someone’s not offended when they’re told that their new car is lawful, when what they were hoping to hear is that their new car is the best thing on four wheels.  

The truth is that once you get past the confusion of a new idiom, they’re fun to add to your vocabulary. 

At the very least, you can enjoy the look of bafflement on someone’s face when they have no idea what you’re saying.

Do you have a favorite idiom?