Share a proverb

[Penguin]

I start with some proverbs regarding the animal kingdom, as they seem to be the most bizarre ones.


Eine Krähe hackt der anderen kein Auge aus
A crow doesn't pick out another crow's eyes - same as in Finnish, only we have crows

Das geht auf keine Kuhhaut
This doesn't fit on a cow skin - this is too much

Der Fuchs ist schlau und stellt sich dumm, bei manchen ist es andersrum.
The fox is smart and plays dumb, with some it's the other way round.

Ich habe schon Pferde kotzen sehen.
I have seen horses puke - I've seen it all

Tu mal Butter bei die Fische.
"Do some butter to the fishes" - Now make your point. Ruhr German but became a common German saying.

da liegt der Hase im Pfeffer
There lies the rabbit in the pepper -
Da liegt der Hund begraben
There lies the buried dog
Both mean the same: This is the point

Einen geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul.
One doesn't look into a gifted horse's mouth - hey it's free, don't critizise it - a modern variant would be geschenkte Drogen werden nicht gewogen - you don't weigh gifted drugs


My two favorites:
Er sitzt wie ein Affe auf dem Schleifstein.
He sits like an ape on a grinding stone. - He sits in a weird way

Da wird ja der Hund in der Pfanne verrückt
This makes the dog in the frying pan go crazy. - Meaning just: "gosh!"

Originally Posted by Hottentot

Eteenpäin, sanoi mummo lumessa.
"Forward!" said the granny in the snow.

While I find this funny in a weird way, I'm not sure if I got it. Is it about pointless motivation in a hopeless situation?

Originally Posted by Hottentot

Kenen leipää syöt, sen lauluja laulat.
Whose bread you eat, his songs you sing. Probably based on the tribal era when there was a god for everything and each of them had their own spells that were sung to get good luck. If you were a fisherman, then you sung the spells of a water god and so on.

we have the same saying "Wess Brot ich ess, dess Lied ich singe."
Actually I have no less than 4 different theories about it, all from Medieval times though.

1. From the times before standing armies, where the majority of fights was done by mercenaries. Besides your pay you get food from the lord who hired you, and you sing your army's song while marching.
2. The jester, who sings to entertain his lord and gets food
3. derived from 3, the Minnesänger, who travelled from lord to lord and thus sings the songs his changing lords like
4. The right to operate a corn mill were granted by the land overlord to the lower nobles. So they could only bake because their boss gave them the right to grind.