Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation - part 2

A new one:

To fall like a plum into a compote

The idiom is a literal translation of a Polish idiom.
"Wpasc jak silwka w kompot'
It means to be in a pickle or be in a difficult situation. 😉

Yes! The whole idea of the thread!

Here's a new one

as if X swallowed a stick

There seem to be two (related) meanings.....

Standoffish appearance? Bolt upright stance?

One meaning.

A broader meaning can be found here: wsjp.pl/haslo/podglad/18023/jakby-kij-polknal

"w sposób sztywny, pozbawiony spontaniczności, nienaturalny" (in a stiff, unspontaneous manner, unnaturally) which is closer to the context I first came across it in a detective novel (complaining about a colleague's over-bureaucratic manner of speaking).

Thanks for the link.


That figures.

A new one:

If it's not a charm, it's diarrhoea

Charm doesn't really fit here, but spell does.

"Charm" wouldn't work but "a charm" works (widely understood as a tool of magic).

In English nouns often change meaning depending on whether they're used as count nouns or non-count nouns, like paper (papier) a paper (gazeta)

Yes, this definition of charm is what it means. I guess you both know the meaning then.