It might be fun to have a collection of pithy sayings & axioms from different places around the world. I heard that there are some non-native english speakers, so foreign languages would be great, too. Just make sure to explain them.

Here are a few from South Texas:

"Sh**ting in tall cotton." -- Southern saying that means you've suddenly come into good fortune.

"Like wrestling a pig in the mud." -- Means that your attempts are not working.

"Slicker than an egg spit-shined by mother goose." -- Okay, I made this one up.

"Drier than a dead dingo's donger" -- really thirsty
"Pushing shit uphill" -- a rather difficult task
"A sixpack short of a pissup" -- having less than a full set of wits

From The Netherlands (I'm not making these up ):

"That's a truth like a cow." - That's very true.
"All craziness on a stick." - But, seriously:
"That's like hitting a pig with pliers." - That doesn't make any sense.

Leanne, do I want to ask what a Dingo's Donger is? Haha! And the ones about shit and six packs! I had no idea that you aussies were so similar to us Texans, hehe.

I like "all craziness on a stick," jdvanwijk. I can just imagine somebody taking all the craziness in a conversation and skewering it with a stick, so that the serious business can continue. Whoever came up with that must have been a poet.

Here's a few more:

"A little fire burns a lot of corn." -- Israeli saying meaning apply pressure to get what you want, but don't overdo it.

"Attack from strength, but remember: If you must attack, you are not strong." -- Chinese proverb from Sun Tsu's Art of War.

"No me chingues, pendejo!" -- Mexican slang meaning don't jerk me around, brother, etc.

Hahaha to that last one Mitya. Most of my college buddies were Hispanic Americans, so I've been exposed to a lot of that slang, but from what I remember maybe you're cleaning up your translation a bit? ;p

And a dingo is a wild dog, if that helps you place it's donger. ;D

Some from the Uk.

The dog's bollocks - the best thing. ( this will be why the dog keeps licking them constantly!)
Sandwich short of a picnic - not very bright.
Like snot off a stick - very fast.

...and as for that one about hitting a pig with pliers....it's all double Dutch to me - Doesn't make any sense.

I recall a couple of expressions we used to like quite a bit:

Al pan pan y al vino vino - literally the bread bread and the wine wine but it comes from the older expression llamar al pan pan y al vino vino or call the bread bread and the wine wine or just say it as it is, a useful tip for.poets.

Entre chien et Lupe which literally means between a dog and a wolf but refers to a time when a wolf may be mistaken for a dog. It is used to say when sometimes it is difficult to tell a friend from someone who may devour you.

*loup milo, not lupe. ;p

(11-26-2013, 04:30 AM)justcloudy Wrote:  *loup milo, not lupe. ;p

Phone auto corrects it every time.
I wrote poems about both of them.

Which of course makes me think of de mortuis nihil nisi bonum. Which you may or may not remember from this board

(11-26-2013, 02:25 AM)justcloudy Wrote:  Hahaha to that last one Mitya. Most of my college buddies were Hispanic Americans, so I've been exposed to a lot of that slang, but from what I remember maybe you're cleaning up your translation a bit? ;p

Hehe. Shh. Don't tell no one.

(11-26-2013, 02:25 AM)justcloudy Wrote:  And a dingo is a wild dog, if that helps you place it's donger. ;D

(O.O) Oh my. lol. What university did you go to, Justcloudy? Was it in the south west?

Here's a few more Southern Sayings:

"The Spark ain't jumping the gap." Means the person understands the material, but isn't really 'getting it'.

"The higher the monkey climbs the tree, the more his ass you see." Proverb meaning politicians can't keep their dongers in their pants.

"The tail ain't wagging the dog here." Means that the speaker is not fooled.

Nah, in Indiana, but I've lived in Texas and New Mexico both.

Here in Morocco there's a saying along the lines of: The cat that can't reach the meat hanging at the butcher's says it's rotten. (Lol it sounds so much worse in English!) Meaning of course if you can't have it you say it's shit. ;D

Yankees are like hemorrhoids, pain in the butt when they come down and always a relief when they go back up. Irritation

Lord, pull that down! we can see clear to the Promised Land. Could use a bit more clothes for coverage. MIL would say this to one of her daughters all the time, was quite the family, 11 girls and 5 boys.

Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. liars

But now we need to define a southern person, anyone south of I-10.

Busy as a one legged cat in a sandbox.

Used to do a lot of work in an area populated with Cajun people, one of them gave me a nickname bebette, said it was a good name for me. Then one day we were having drinks at a bar and he used it, then another one said, why did he call you a dick. I looked at him shrug, and said he told me it was a nickname. The person who gave me the name said it was because one day when he couldn't get he plotter to work, that I laughed at him and said that is because you have it on the other side world, and it can't figure out where it is. I changed a few things to tell it where it was, but the name seemed to stick.

(11-26-2013, 05:30 AM)justcloudy Wrote:  Nah, in Indiana, but I've lived in Texas and New Mexico both.

Here in Morocco there's a saying along the lines of: The cat that can't reach the meat hanging at the butcher's says it's rotten. (Lol it sounds so much worse in English!) Meaning of course if you can't have it you say it's shit. ;D

sour grapes

i can only go off the south of england.

give us yer money before i cut yer fuckin ears off...your being mugged

pleasant as dick cheese...not pleasant

thick as pig shit...not southern and means thick as pig shit

suck it-- universal

suck it bad

take it like a man....presumably it means you're gonna get shafted up the arse

Bitchin--means awesome in California.

Bury the hatchet--adapted from a Cherokee Indian peace-treaty ceremony by Scotts Irish settlers in America (you know then as the "Hillbillies", or "rednecks")

On that subject of Indians, they have a saying. When the white man came he had the bible and we had the land, now we have the bible and the white man has the land.

A lot of them converted, but they found it strange that white men were treated one way, but the Indians another. In a lot of their speeches they would say just treat us as your book tells you to treat people.

One of my favorites is Young Chief Joseph, Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it, meaning Rolling Thunder in the Mountain. Not quite right, Thunder Rolls down the Mountain.