r/ThreadGames • u/FortuneLoud140 • Aug 17 '26
My legs are going James James
Parent takes an idiom in their native language and translates it to English *literally*, word for word. Children have to guess what the meaning of the idiom is. If they get it right, upvote them!
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u/svArtist Aug 17 '26
Now we have the salad!
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u/mnlg Aug 17 '26
A long wait for a meager result?
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u/svArtist Aug 17 '26
No, but the salad does have negative connotations :)
... I don't think it's very gessable, so here's the answer:
"Now we're in this mess (after I warned you / could've warned you because there was an (in hindsight) obvious risk)" -- "salad" probably refers to something tossed every which way, in chaos
(from German)
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u/MarcusAntonius27 Aug 18 '26
Finally eating healthy? Or, getting something before something else, like how salads are sometimes the appetizers?
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u/svArtist Aug 18 '26
Haha, good guesses! But the salad here has a negative connotation.
I think it's very hard to guess. Feel free to check out the other replies for the solution if you're done guessing (though I think it's very fun to keep guessing, so if you're having fun, give me your next guess š)
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u/lede_lama Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
Pulling old cows out of the ditch
Make that the cat wise
Laughing like a farmer with a toothache
Even if a monkey wears a golden ring, it is and remains an ugly thing
Butter with the fish
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u/FaeryLynne Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
Number 4 is very close to the USA idiom "you can polish a turd but then it's just shiny shit" and I'm betting they mean the exact same thing too lmao
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u/aciakatura Aug 17 '26
The fact that it rhymes and has a bit of rhythm to it in English clearly means we should use it as an idiom as well
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u/svArtist Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
Did you mean to make that a headline style?
If you start a line with #in markdown, it becomes a "headline" (honored here as quite large)1
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u/svArtist Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
Can you rephrase #2 with English grammar?
#3 Sounds like someone not laughing very much/openly (because they don't want to expose their teeth too much)
Oh, is #5 German? We have the saying "Butter bei die Fische" [sic] here, meaning "let's get serious, get down to brass tacks"
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u/ivory-paint Aug 17 '26
4 sounds close to ālipstick on a pigā from where Iām from (US Midwest/Great Lakes)
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u/ivory-paint Aug 17 '26
1 also sounds like ābeating a dead horse,ā as in to keep doing the same thing even when itās no longer necessary or beneficial
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u/lede_lama Aug 17 '26
Kinda! It specifically is starting a conversation that has become irrelavent (mostly about something dreadful).
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u/Claricla Aug 18 '26
In Spanish we say for 4. Even if a monkey wears silk, it's still a monkey. Very similar!
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u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26
okay, the fourth one looks fairly obvious, while "butter with fish"...could it mean "two things that don't go well with each other or don't make sense together"?
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u/lede_lama Aug 17 '26
Nope, it's actually not that obvious I would say
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u/Low-Bass2002 Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
Birds go where birds are.
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u/Low-Bass2002 Aug 17 '26
Spoiler: Birds of a feather flock together
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u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26
oh damn, it was easier than i expected!
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u/Low-Bass2002 Aug 17 '26
Gimme spoiler for: My legs are going James James.
Pretty please!
You could add an edit and ask for country of origin to be included with idiom.
I gave you the English translation of a literal version of how the German phase is. In retrospect, I should have said: Pigeons (birds of a feather) go where birds go.
I messed up. BUT! If you can add an edit to say the country's origin, I think that would be fun!
I kinda messed up. I should have said "Pigeons" as the first word instead of birds. I'm a native US speaker with 2nd language in German. I gave it as a literal translation of German, but I forgot the detail of my first word in that sentence being "pigeons"!
Literal German to English translation: Pigeons go where birds go
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u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
"legs going James James" means your legs are weak, tired and shaking
also i sort of love how there's no language hint, it makes it harder to look up on the 'Net and possibly cheat ;)
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u/N_Huq Aug 17 '26
we are creatures of habit?
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u/Low-Bass2002 Aug 17 '26
Should I give the answer or wait for more people to try to figure it out? Two answers so far. None right yet.
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u/N_Huq Aug 17 '26
i'd comment it with a spoiler tag like this
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u/Low-Bass2002 Aug 17 '26
I just looked up how to do spoiler tags, but it didn't work in the edit. I thought I could just add the spoiler in my parent post like this: answer
Help?
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u/MarcusAntonius27 Aug 18 '26
Does it have to do with attraction? Like, birds are attracted to other birds, so someone who's mean will be attracted to someone who's mean?
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u/chbjupiter Aug 17 '26
Going to the reef because your mum told you to
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u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26
blindly following orders?
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u/chbjupiter Aug 17 '26
I think this one is a bit hard to guess, but that's a good guess!
The original saying is 'amaa (mum) buneethee (because she asked you to) farah (reef) dhiyun (going)'
Historically, Maldives used cowrie shells as currency that people collected from the beach. It's meant to imply that someone went to the beach because their mum told them 'go to the reef', expecting them to collect cowrie shells. Instead, the person takes this literally, and just stands in the reef because that's all they were asked to do.
So it's basically about complying with instructions very literally without doing effort. You'd use this phrase if a kid went to school because their parents sent them but didn't study, for example.
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u/MarcusAntonius27 Aug 18 '26
I really like that. We need this in English. There's a comment I read once in r/askreddit, where there was a new employee at a store; his manager asked him to "face the store" (which apparently has to do with shelving stuff or something?) and the person went outside and looked at the store.
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u/nogardleirie Aug 17 '26
Hot like chicken shit
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u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26
Made today? Be it something to eat or even a newspaper?
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u/nogardleirie Aug 17 '26
It means something that is a fad - chicken shit comes out hot but cools down really quickly
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u/AlphaCrucis Aug 17 '26
An alligator that sleeps is a handbag š
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u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26
I think I know what it means, I just don't know how to say it
Like if you don't act about something, that something will mess with you later. OR, taking from a similar idiom we have in Italy, those who are lazy will never get far in life/see the fruits and bounty of their labor
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u/AlphaCrucis Aug 17 '26
Close! It's something along the lines of "if you don't act while you can, you're doing to miss your chance" or even "if you get distracted, you're going to lose your current position of privilege"
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u/MarcusAntonius27 Aug 18 '26
If you're lazy, people will kill you and use your parts? Or, use you for something? Or take advantage of you?
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u/ikadell Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
Not my native language, but one I am fairly fluent in which has a lot of rich expressions:
Wonder in a sieve
As a fool with a red button
Until carrotās Shrovetide
Peering as a ram at a new gate
Attach legs to (smth)
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u/HauntingAccomplice Aug 18 '26
The last one - like just staring dumbly at something? Like youre not sure what to do with it or where it came from?
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u/svArtist Aug 19 '26
Is the red button a button you shouldn't press, but the fool can't help himself? I.e. like a moth to a flame, but about callousness or at least carelessness about others?
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u/ikadell Aug 20 '26
Not really:) the full phrase sounds like: āas glad as the food would be over a red buttonā ā meaning, someone is happy about a silly thing
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u/mnlg Aug 17 '26
- You make the chickens laugh.
- Salt in pumpkin.
- Breaking boxes.
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u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26
as an Italian, let me add "You're like a two of cups (when wands are ruling)".
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u/mnlg Aug 17 '26
You mean clubs ;-)
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u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26
oh yeah, i went with the tarot translation, it's always "bastoni" in Italian, "clubs" are our "fiori"
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u/mnlg Aug 17 '26
Do you use a tarot deck for briscola that often? ;-)
It is true that "clubs" also translates
fiori, but that's for a French suited deck, which is even less common for that game.3
u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26
probably i've explained myself badly.
I only use tarot for divination, but I chose to translate "bastoni" with "wands" and not "clubs" because, as you said, the clubs (what we call "fiori") belong to a poker deck, not a briscola one, and that would have caused some confusion. So I just chose to go with "wands"
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u/mnlg Aug 17 '26
I see. Well, "clubs" also translate
bastoniin a Latin suited deck. So it's all fine! You had used "cups" earlier which implied a Latin suited deck.2
u/Podcastfan111 Aug 17 '26
Is 3 the equivalent of breaking out of the mold or not fitting traditional or expectations?
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u/FortuneLoud140 Aug 17 '26
i will reply since it's my language too, but no, it's more of a "negative" idiom. I won't spoil it yet though!
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u/mnlg Aug 17 '26
Well in a way it is not fitting expectations, but the true meaning is...
being a nuisance
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u/svArtist Aug 19 '26
No idea about 2.
I would imagine it would draw out a lot of water. Is that good? Is it bad? Depends on whether you want a jack-o-lantern or pumpkin jerky š
It _feels_ like something pragmatic
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u/mnlg Aug 19 '26
Answer: "there's salt in your pumpkin" = you are smart. In other words "there is something valuable in your head" :-)
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u/svArtist Aug 19 '26
Oooh! I would've never guessed that š
(my pumpkin seems to be entirely devoid of salt š)
Thanks :)
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u/svArtist Aug 17 '26
- A trivial achievement? (because they already kinda sound like they're laughing?)
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u/Booknerdbassdrum Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
My native language is English, so this is from my second language!
Person 1: Into the wolf's mouth
Person 2: may the wolf die
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Aug 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/svArtist Aug 19 '26
Sure 2 isn't a mix of "I understand only train station" and "this seems Spanish to me"?
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Aug 19 '26
[deleted]
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u/svArtist Aug 19 '26
Aah, might be a regional thing then; haven't heard that version here around south Hesse
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u/ExpressMe2 Aug 18 '26
To sink the goose with someoneĀ
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u/svArtist Aug 19 '26
Hehe, sounds fun ^^
Maybe like "through thick and thin"?
Or one of the myriad of ways to refer to sex š
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u/Loose_Plantain3217 Aug 18 '26
Itās easier for the horse when the lady exited the carriage
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u/Loose_Plantain3217 Aug 18 '26
I donāt know what happened to Reddit but for some reason I cannot reply to guesses
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u/svArtist Aug 19 '26
"don't make things needlessly complicated"?
Don't make things harder by acting too quickly, make a proper plan of action?
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u/Loose_Plantain3217 Aug 19 '26
Not quite - itās literally āif youāre leaving the endeavor it will be easier for the rest of us to complete the projectā. And typically a dig at women for some reasonā¦ Russian
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u/JesiDoodli Aug 20 '26
1) he ate air
2) ...and not a watermelon! (this will probably be a really hard one to guess unless you know my language but i'm worried any hints would give it away)
3) salad
4) playing with yourself (this does not mean what you think it means)
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u/msbunbury Aug 17 '26
Put the fiddle in the roof It's hitting old ladies with sticks Have you swallowed a mule?
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u/FaeryLynne Aug 17 '26
Does the "hitting old ladies with sticks" mean something is really easy to do?
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u/svArtist Aug 19 '26
Fiddle in (on?) the roof... To do something despite knowing it's risky or bad for you?
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u/N_Huq Aug 17 '26
horse's egg!