A Sandwich Short of a Picnic

Next time you meet a foreigner who is, shall we say, not the sharpest knife in the drawer or not playing with a full deck or a few beers short of a six-pack, you can refer to him in his native language:

If he's Croatian, say "Vrane su mu popile mozak." (Crows have drunk his brain.)

If he's Danish, say that he has "rotter på loftet" (rats in the attic).

If he's French, say, "Il n'a pas inventé l'eau chaude." (He didn't invent hot water.)

If he's Irish, say (in Gaelic), "Tá sé chomh mear le míol Márta." (He's as lively as an animal in March.)

If he's German, ask him, "Hast du 'nen Vogel?!" (Have you got a bird [in your head]?)

If he's Portuguese or Brazilian, say that he has a "cabeça d'alho xoxo" (head of rotten garlic).

If he's Russian, say, "У него крыша поехала (U nego kryša poexala)." (His roof has gone.)

If he's Serbian, say that he's "Луд ко струя (lud ko struja)" (crazy as electricity).

If he's Hispanic, tell him in Spanish that he's "más loco que una cabra" (crazier than a goat).

There are many more examples here, plus—for all you Monty Python fans—an entire page devoted to how to say "My hovercraft is full of eels" in every language. Oh yeah, and all sorts of interesting (for polyglots, anyhow) information about learning and studying foreign languages. Me, I find this stuff fascinating.

Comments

[Margaret]

Funny--I love idioms. That French expression was just recently on my quote of the day calendar. What a strange coincidence!

[Mir]

I shall be saying "my hovercraft is full of eels" all day, now. Thanks a lot! ;)

[Elisson]

There was a website a while back - it may still exist - that was called the "I Can Eat Glass" project. The site had translations of the phrase "I can eat glass - it doesn't hurt me" into over 125 languages.

The idea was that if you used that phrase, people would treat you as an insane local, rather than a tourist.

[Karen]

I vaguely remember seeing that one, too. The site I linked to here has a link to another site that tells you how to say "Oh my god! There's an axe in my head" in various languages: http://www.yamara.com/axe/

Handy, as long as your accent is good!