Idioms in foreign languages - and their translations

Nice topic, Walter.

"Blau machen" is to not show up for work--for no good reason. "
I think the idiom is related to indigo dying (blue dying).

Correct, ul! (No "blauer Brief" necessariy to send to your address ).

The term is known since about 1530. (It took about 14 days to colour clothes blue. Afterwards, the craftsmen had a day of, the 'blue Monday'.)

Another explanation is the wearing of blue by priests on Monday before Lent > "Blue Monday marks the day when the priests begin their fast. It is so called as the colour 'blue' signifies the dark blue cloth of the altar."

masculine genderfeminine genderneuter gender

Walter, one idiomatic expression which is identical in both English and German is Blaue Montag or Blue Monday. (Speaking of blue, that is.)

In the summer, I might say "I am warm." While in Germany, I was advised to not translate this into German.

These are the nominees for the Chevy Nova Award. This is given out in
honor of the GM's fiasco in trying to market this car in Central and
South America. "No va" means, of course, in Spanish, "it doesn't go".

1. The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?"
prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to
their attention the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?"

2. Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was
read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

3. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an
American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."

4. Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany
only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people
had use for the "Manure Stick."

5. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same
packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they
learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the labels
of what's inside, since many people can't read.

6. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish
market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el
Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato" (la papa).

7. Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into
"Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.

8. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning
"Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on
the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic
equivalent "kokou kole", translating into "happiness in the mouth."

9. When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first
class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather"
campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish

"Gosto é que nem cú, todo mundo tem o seu"

A Brazilian idiom meaning:

"Taste is like ass, everyone has their own"

These were (direct and irrelevant) translations of original messages into English in some hotels abroad:

i) "Please leave your values at the desk."
(France)

ii) "You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid."
(Japan)

iii) "Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose"
(Switzerland)

iv) "Ladies are requested not to have children at the bar."
(Norway)

"Ladies are requested not to have children at the bar."

Good one!

In Spanish, to sleep like a log is Dormir como un lirón (to sleep like a dormeuse). You give (or get) a purple eye or a moor eye ojo morado or ojo moro. You're not blue, or any color, you're depre. Monday's aren't blue, either, at least in Mexico they're ironically sanctified: "San Lunes".

One blue thing were old Mexican 50 pesos banknotes, called "Ojo de gringa" (gringa's eye).

I love this topic, thank you, thank you. It's fascinating already.

In English we say that one is "in a jam" or "in a pickle" to mean that someone is in some sort of trouble or difficulty. In Latvian, the same expression is "tu esi truba" or "you're up a stovepipe."

Listening in and having fun.

Paul Theroux in his latest book gets into some strife with an officious type at a border crossing, it gets solved and he gets a sort of apology. He uses a local idiom that translates as "The cheeks of your buttocks can't but rub together".

In colloquial Mexican Spanish, when someone is in trouble or difficulty, está en pedos: s/he's "in farts".

As they would say in the nation of Texas and applicable to our non-native son of a president -

"He's all hat and no cattle"

Oops, in Texanese that means 'LIGHTWEIGHT"

Oh I can youse Texas lingo?