Tuesday 14 December 2010

Funny Greek to English translations

I was waiting in line in the post office the other day and overheard someone on the phone which inspired this post. All she said was 'kaneis diakopes'. Which literally translated means 'You're having a holiday'. But guess what it means in context? 'Your phone signal is cutting out.' Weird right? So I thought I'd share with you today some other odd phrases. Caution - some are a tiny bit rude.
It will go in this order :

Greek - literal translation - meaning in context

koufalitsa - small hole in a tree - crafty/cunning person

ade kourepsou - go have a haircut - stop talking about things you're oblivious about

tha se fao - I'm gonna eat you - I'm really angry for what you did

Tha sou alakso ta fota- I'll change your lights - You're screwed.

Tha fas ksilo - You'll eat wood - You'll get a smack.

Siga ta Laxana - slowly the vegetables - It's not a big deal.

Tha mou tripiseis tin miti - You will pierce my nose - You can't do anything to me.

Tha mou klasis ta frithia - You can fart on my eyebrows - You can't do anything to me.

Ai Pkniksou - go drown yourself - leave me alone

kolopedo - bum child - misbehaved child and/or bastard

min mou zalizeis ta arxithia - don't make my balls dizzy - Stop saying nonsense to me.

Pao na kano ton psofio - I'm going to act like a corpse - I'm going to have a rest.

Kane ton psofio korio – I’m going to act like a dead bug. – I’m going to pretend that nothing happened.

se grafo sta palia mou ta papoutsia - I am writing you on my old shoes - I'm ignoring you.

If you live, or have lived, in a foreign country, were there any strange phrases that caught your attention?

37 comments:

  1. HA! These are great! Sounds like you live an interesting life. How're the cheeses there?

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  2. Don't make my balls dizzy - now that's priceless!

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  3. HA! UI'm going to eat you doesn't really fly. These are hilarious!

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  4. Loved these! Thanks for sharing!

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  5. Even in English we have a lot of expressions that don't mean what they sound like they mean like: shooting up = taking drugs, etc

    I ran into a lot of strange things when I moved to the UK from the US.. I hadn't banked on how different the language is from one English-speaking country to another.

    Probably the funniest mistake I made was when I lived in Japan and instead of saying 'so desu', which means "it's exactly as you say", I said 'zo desu', which means "I'm an elephant."

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  6. Funny stuff Jessica. I need to go eat some wood now.

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  7. These are something, I love language, so many interpretations~

    Hawaii, with their limited alphabet, beautiful language and gentle spirit!
    I want to go back, it is freezing here in the south~

    Thanks for sharing; Fun post!

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  8. These are awesome! Yay Jess!!! Hehe perfect, just what I needed at work today!

    Jen/Jules
    Unedited & Jules and the Stars

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  9. That is so hilarious, I am going to start telling pple they can fart on my eyebrows.

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  10. OMG! "You can fart on my eyebrows" PRICELESS. I'm going to start using that one STAT!

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  11. Ha! These are fantastic. I especially love "You can fart on my eyebrows." I'm going to try to work that into a conversation today. ;)

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  12. Those were hysterical. I'm sure there are some good ones here but nothing I can think of. Probably because they all sound normal to me.

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  13. "You can fart on my eyebrows"?!? LMAO

    How in the world do you learn how to speak Greek when the literal translations are so different from what you're actually saying? I'm gonna take Russian instead.

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  14. These are great, Jessica! I love language.

    My favorites:
    min mou zalizeis ta arxithia - don't make my balls dizzy - Stop saying nonsense to me

    Kane ton psofio korio – I’m going to act like a dead bug. – I’m going to pretend that nothing happened

    Greek - literal translation - meaning in context

    Classic. :)

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  15. Hahahaha! Those are awesome Jessica! I'm gonna eat you is probably my favorite. Ah...needed the laugh...Thanks!

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  16. These are hilarious! In Russian, there's an expression that I love. It's a little adult, so I'll try to censor myself here. But, the phrase literally means "Walk crabwise along a fence." In actuality, it means "F**k off!"

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  17. Fun post! I love learning things like this.

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  18. Haha - those literal translations are priceless! I love 'going to act like a dead bug'. :)

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  19. These are hilarious. When I lived in Poland, I had a whole collection of things like this but now I've forgot most of them!

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  20. He, he!
    Is there a female equivalent of "don't make my balls dizzy"?

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  21. LOL. Those are sun funny translations!

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  22. These are hilarious! "I'll fart on your eyebrow!" LOL. Thanks for sharing some joy.
    CD

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  23. Haha! Like I can top "fart on my eyebrows"? I'll have to dig up some good Turkish ones. :D

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  24. BUWAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, these are great! I really should adopt some of these. They'd be so useful when nobody knows what I mean... every person talking nonsense is getting 'go get a hair cut' from me from now on... because probably if I said not to make my balls dizzy, they'd fart on my eyebrows and who needs that?

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  25. Can I just say go drown yourself? Or would that be considered rude? LOL

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  26. These are some amusing head-scratchers! Thanks for sharing.

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  27. fart on my elbows? bum child? drown yourself??? LOL!!! You know, I'm sure it's the same way w/English words... Like "take a jump" means go away (like "drown yourself")

    But this is great. I esp. like the veggies one. B/c, you know. Veggies take a while. Or something. ;p

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  28. OMG don't make my balls dizzy?! Love it. Love it so much.

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  29. Don't make my ball dizzy is an awesome one :) Here's a few Welsh ones:

    Mae hi'n bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn - It's raining old ladies and sticks (It's raining cats and dogs)

    Rhuthrodd ef i'r ty^ ‚'i wynt yn ei ddwrn. = He rushed to the house with his breath in his fist (He was in a big hurry)

    Rwy'n barod i roi'r ffidil yn y tô. = I'm ready to put the fiddle in the roof (I want to give up)

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  30. Those are so awesome. I've got to show those to my husband; he has a lot of Greek friends he could impress with those.

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  31. If my kids get hold of this, they are going to have a great time.

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  32. Ha! I wish I'd read this at the start of my day when I needed the pick me up. At least I know I'll go to sleep with a smile on my face!

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  33. SO funny! "stop making my balls dizzy" ROTFLMAO!

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  34. Actually you can also say "tha mou klasis ta'arxidia" or literally "you will fart my balls" which also means you can't do anything to me!!

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  35. Their is a similar saying more famous than the "tha mou klasis ta fridia" which is "tha mou klasis t' arxidia" 'which means you will fart my balls' but means that you can't do anything to me!

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