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On the edge

Watch out for those snappy exclamations. They’re generally a sign of rapidly fading patience:

kalter Kaffee (German) that’s old hat (literally, cold coffee)

dang-geun i-ji (Korean) it’s obvious (literally, it’s a carrot)

da lachen die Hühner (German) you must be joking (literally, this makes the chickens laugh)

heso de cha o wakasu (Japanese) don’t make me laugh (literally, I boil tea in my navel)

nu tog fan bofinken (Swedish) now that’s done it (literally, the devil took the chaffinch)

ne cui hui v chai (Russian) don’t mess things up (literally, don’t stir the tea with your penis)

Looking for the hair

And some people just can’t help but provoke you:

bamp (Scots) to harp on the same topic constantly, to nag about the same thing

chercher un poil aux oeufs (French) to nit-pick (literally, to look for a hair on eggs)

juubakonosumi o (yoojide) tsutsuku (Japanese) to split hairs (literally, to pick at the corners of a food-serving box with a toothpick)

no tener pelos en la lengua (Latin American Spanish) to be very outspoken (literally, to have no hairs on your tongue)

napleiten (Dutch) to discuss might-have-beens, go over old ground again, keep on arguing after a thing has been decided

Pig’s ribbon

Sometimes you can feel it all getting too much:

la moutarde me monte au nez (French) to begin to lose one’s temper (literally, mustard is climbing up my nose)

akaspa (Dakota, USA) to be provoked beyond endurance

poner como lazo de cochino a (alguien) (Mexican Spanish) to jump down someone’s throat (literally, to make someone look like a pig’s ribbon)

Cracking up

We must, of course, do our very best to be tactful and discreet, relying on our wits to keep us out of trouble:

mijèry àrina an-tàva (Malagasy, Madagascar) not to tell a person his faults (literally, to notice a blotch on the face but not mention it)

dar(le) el avión a (alguien) (Mexican Spanish) to say yes or agree, without really meaning it or paying attention (literally, to give the aeroplane)

tumodisa (Setswana, Botswana) to shut a person’s mouth to prevent him from speaking

ad-hoc-Bildungen (German) making up a new word on the spot in a moment of need

adin’ andriana (Malagasy, Madagascar) a quarrel in which both parties show great respect for each other

On reflection

Hell is other people(s)

It’s always easier to describe unpleasant things or experiences in foreign terms; it makes them less immediate and it’s a good way of having a dig at another culture at the same time. When we can’t understand someone’s English we call it Double Dutch; while the Danes call a grey cloudy day Swedish Sunshine:

spaans benauwd (Dutch) lack of air when you are dead nervous (literally, Spanish lack of air)

une querelle d’Allemand (French) a quarrel started for no obvious or good reason (literally, a German argument)

kitaiskyi televizor (Russian) the manual examination of baggage at customs (literally, Chinese television)

mandras kaip prancū zu šuo (Lithuanian) proud as a French dog

avoir l’oeil americain (French) to have a sharp eye (literally, an American eye)

doccia scozzese (Italian) a shower that goes from very hot to very cold (literally, Scottish shower)

schwedische Gardinen (German) prison bars (literally, Swedish curtains – the Swedish had a reputation for fine quality steel)

Mexican rage

Mexican Spanish has expressions for each stage of losing your patience with someone. Alucinar a alguien is to be fed up with someone’s constant and not very welcome presence; estar como agua para (pa’) chocolate, to be absolutely furious (literally, to be as hot as the water needed to melt chocolate); and finally parar(se) de pestañas describes losing it completely (literally, to stand on your eyelashes).

Picking a fight

The typically polite Japanese use few insults and those they do use tend to be indirect. Baka (fool) is a combination of the words for ‘horse’ and ‘deer’, with the implication that anyone who cannot tell a horse from a deer is obviously a fool.

Get lost !

Other cultures