What is the best proverb you know in a language foreign to you?
To me it is the German proverb: “In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft”, which roughly translates to “Strength is found in serenity”.
I once saw that proverb chiseled into a bench on a hiking trail in Hessen, Germany, and it stayed with me ever since.
What is your favourite?
@randahl There is a Dutch one that goes something like "Don't tie the cat to the bacon"
@Dekksdagbok Say again??? What does that mean?
@randahl It's about temptation.
You know the marshmellow test? That's exactly tying the cat to the bacon.
@randahl Цирк уехал, клоуны остались. [[tseerk u-YE-hal, KLO-u-ny as-TA-lees']
The circus has left, the clowns have stayed.
Russian proverb: Describes a situation when the people around behave inadequately, weird, silly or just fool around.
@randahl „Irgendwas ist ja immer (There is always something [implied: not perfect]).
I even translated it to Latin (Semper aliquid est) to make it part of our (unofficial) family coat of arms.
@randahl Tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare.
Italian, Between saying and doing lies the sea.
In English: There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Apparently the Ukrainian equivalent is: The only free cheese is in the mousetrap.
@randahl "You may test that assumption at your convenience" (Fuck around and find out)
My fave German one is "Das ist nicht mein Bier. Literally it means, "That's not my beer". But it says "That's not my problem".
One that I learned from my mother (I have never had it corroborated) was a Polish one, "a duck will kick you". Maybe those aren't the exact words but something to do with a duck and kicking you. Supposedly you're belittling the other person.
@randahl
三人行，必有我师. sān rén xíng, bì yǒu wǒ shī. When three people walk together, there is someone I can learn from. Confucius.
@randahl There's a South American saying that translates to: "A marriage is never of two equals; one is always trying to pull the other up while the other is always trying to pull the one down."
To simplify analysis, replace UP with 'forward' and DOWN with 'not changing.'
@randahl
"Not my cup of tea" is one of my favorites, greetings from Hessen 👋
Belt and braces??
@randahl „Jede jeck es anders.“
@randahl
Not a proverb, but "Je ne sais quoi". In English, it means the same as French, but also much more. Some vague, indescribable quality.
@randahl "Das dicke Ende kommt noch." Oder "Du bist noch nicht an Schmitz Backes vorbei."
@randahl English: "Better safe than sorry"
Italian: "In bocca a lupo - crepi!"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_bocca_al_lupo
@randahl Alles hat ein Ende nur die Wurst hat zwei.
@randahl Here in the USA, we have endless proverbs we claim come from some other country, but they're really just random shit we said and wanted to sound special.
