Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation

Ok, thanks Maf :)

well , that saying is rather precise. I mean it refers to a specify issue from a point of view of a saying-user(sic). It doesn't generalizes like most of saying.

Such and such thingy not gonna work - says A or he can say - insert saying - that. Makes him look sage and savvy rather than a gossiping bitter fart that he is. lol

Besides that saying is not oft used nor popular. Its alive to some extent due to literature. I'm sure there are any people in Poland that never heard it.

Yes. And from another barrel is a seperate idiom, it means: let`s start a new topic.

Here is how Joanna Rawik sings about it (1967) - song entitled:

I'm sure you meant to put a link in, but I googled it out of interest. Not my type of music but she does have a lovely voice :)


Still in pondering mode..........

I did put a link, it was still there yesterday evening, but it seems the new policy of the forum seems to be removing certain links.

It is not my type of music either, but in the song she goes on to sing some other phrases of this type as, for example: not every apple turns into wine.

Joanna Rawik has a lovely voice, but had never been as popular in the 1960s as were other singers, and these days she seems to have been almost completely forgotten. In my view, the proverb which became the title of her song is less frequently used these days than some time ago even if people still recognize it.

Tp put a pin into sb means to say sth sarcastic or even malicious about them.

To tread on sb`s heels.

To get in someone's way (hinder them because of your proximity)

Partly, because it primarily involves catching up with sb. E..g, He was the most successful businessman in town but others were treading on his heels. The police are treading on robbers` heels.

I've heard it a few times in the context of smn getting in the way -nb. not directed at me :)

It has exactly the same meaning in England.

I see.

To stick to sth like a drunk man to a fence.

To stick very closely/hold tightly onto something, or to hold on for dear life, as we would say in the UK?

Yes!

To pick up the glove.

Is it the same as to pick/take up the gauntlet? To accept a challenge?

Yes!
The cup of bitterness has overflown

Yes, exactly. :)

Sb gave me the idea and I have to write it before I forget: To let out a peacock.

To upchuck, a round trip lunch, puke, technicolor yawn....

If someone is stuffed?

Anger and resentment has become all-consuming?

Yes. :):) I recalled another saying from my uni times which comments on the person doing it: he/she is talking to the tigers. :):)


Loaded? with dough, of course. :)


Yes! I am not sure about all consuming, but if it means that sb has had enough and reacted in a certain way, after a long period of enduring a situation, then it is the right meaning.

To drive sb into a goat`s corner.

All our female forum members, you know who, are the persons who allow nobody to blow into their kasha/porridge/cereal. :)

To force someone into a difficult situation which is not easy to get out of?


Is it the equivalent of not taking sh1t from anyone? Not allowing anyone to tell us what to do, or pushing us around?

Double goatseye! :)

When discussing certain phrases with students, we always try to trace their origin. E..g, window=wind eye. That goat`s corner probably meant the enclosure where goats were kept, with only one exit.

Who is a fat fish? .

To be backed into a corner as we would say in the UK.


A big shot? Someone with a lot of money, a fat cat?

Yes, big shot, but not only with a lot of money, also power. But as they usually go together, no point adding it, after all.

What does it mean: if one has a soft heart, they must have a tough ass. )::)

A tough exterior hides a soft centre? :)

Oops, completely different one. Sorry, it is my mistake - replace must with has to to make the tone tougher.

If I do that then the quote will be ' If one has a soft heart, they has have a tough ass', which is not quite right methinks!

No, I said "has to" :) I wasn`t stammering on to :).

Hint - the soft heart part involves the context of mercy.