Watching the Korean film No Other Choice (2025) and a character mentions that in English you say "getting axed" when you're fired, but in Korean it's "off with your head."
It got me thinking about another one I'd noticed. In English you're on cloud 9 when you're happy, but in Norwegian we say cloud 7.
2
Acceptable-Boot4904Apr 3, 2026
+2
In Portuguese we say "engolir sapos" which literally means "swallowing frogs" when you have to accept something unpleasant without complaining. English has "swallow your pride" but ours is way more disgusting lol
The cloud thing is interesting though - I wonder if there's some historical reason why different cultures picked different numbers for the same feeling
2
AHDahlApr 3, 2026
+1
In Norwegian we say swallowing camels!
1
Kelly_the_tailorApr 3, 2026
+2
The English word "concrete" is a kind of grey mortar used to build buildings, bridges, structures etc.
The german word "konkret" means: serious, specific, precise.
Germans often struggle whilst learning vocabulary.
2
AHDahlApr 3, 2026
+3
we use "konkret" in the exact same way as you guys
3
KurshisApr 3, 2026
+2
As one lady from uk once told me "I did not realize that cocks and p**** are regular Lithuanian words".
Yes - koks (pronounced same as cocks) means masculine "what?".
and pusė (sounds very simmilar to p****) - means half.
2
vmfryeApr 3, 2026
+3
A bisexual person explaining to me how they have half of their relationships with male and female people.
My reaction: "Koks? Pusė?"
3
AHDahlApr 3, 2026
+1
haha!
1
AHDahlApr 3, 2026
+2
lol! we have kokk, which means chef
2
lycos94Apr 3, 2026
+2
when someone is kind, in English you might describe that as them having a big heart
for some reason, the same thing in Dutch is saying they have a small heart , I never understood that
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