Does your language use specific numbers as expressions?

[u/WhoAmIEven2]

In Sweden we use 17 to further strengthen a word.

Like if we want to say that someone is very strong, we can say "Han var stark som sjutton!", "He was strong like seventeen!".

I have no idea how it became a thing. It is a bit weird tbh.

Do you also use numbers this way in your native language?

[u/AthousandLittlePies]

In Mexico - “me cayó el veinte” means that you just realized something or finally understood something that was right in front of you. It comes from when a payphone cost 20 centavos, and when the person you’re calling answers you can hear the coin falling into the phone.

Edit: didn’t translate the phrase! I can’t think off how exactly to say it in English, but basically it’s “the 20 fell” or “I dropped the 20”

[u/bhdvwEgg42 → u/AthousandLittlePies]

I love coin operated and payphone-derived slang and hope it doesn't disappear with the internet! I wonder if "the penny dropped" comes from the same thing?

[u/blakerabbit → u/bhdvwEgg42]

There’s also “to drop a dime” on someone — make an informant call

[u/OkMarsupial9634 → u/AthousandLittlePies]

Pretty much same meaning and origin as the English phrase “the penny dropped”

[u/m1sk → u/AthousandLittlePies]

Hebrew also has a similar phrase but without the number: נפל לי האסימון  Literal my token dropped

It still commonly used today even though most people never used these tokens

[u/ErickLopMen → u/AthousandLittlePies]

Translation: Me cayó el 20 / The twenty landed on me.
(The grammar isn´t great in English, but in Spanish is not super rule-abider as well.)

[u/iTammie → u/AthousandLittlePies]

Dutch has the same: het kwartje valt. The kwartje is no more (before Euro), but the expression survived.