French France

chauffe Marcel

Expression USED On Occasion BY Older generation

(heat up Marcel) • Go ahead, give the best of yourself, and surpass yourself.

"Mon frère Robert n’a jamais aimé chanter." "Allez, vas-y Robert, tu peux le faire ! Chauffe Marcel !"

“My brother Robert never liked singing.” “Come on, go Robert, you can do it! Heat up, Marcel!”

Spanish Costa Rica

pura vida

Expression USED Frequently BY Costa Ricans

A saying Costa Rican's use that means everything is great, life is good, and nothing is worth getting stressed out over.

"Pura vida, mae."

"Pure life, dude."

Turkish Turkey

bu ne perhiz bu ne lahana turşusu

Idiom USED On Occasion BY Some people

(what a diet, what a sauerkraut) • This idiom means to act in a way that contradicts one's own words. It is generally expressed to condemn people whose words and actions do not match.

"Adam dün neler diyordu, şimdi neler yapıyor, bu ne perhiz bu ne lahana turşusu?"

"That guy was saying one thing yesterday, now doing the opposite, what kind of a diet, what kind of a sauerkraut is this?"

English United States

short bus

Expression USED Frequently BY Everybody

American school children are picked up for school on yellow buses. Most children travel on long buses. Short buses are used to pick up smaller groups, usually children with special needs or who attend special classes. The implication is that a "short bus" is for troublesome or low-intelligence individuals.

"That dude clearly got here on the short bus."

Kannada Dakshina Kannada or Udupi, India

ಎಂಥ ಸಾವ?

Expression USED Frequently BY Young adoloscents in Mangalore/Udupi area

(what kind of death?) • It means "what the heck" in the local language. Probably not used in formal spaces. Not even amongst elders. Used when, say, playing cricket in the village school ground after hours.

"ಎಂಥ ಸಾವ?! ಆವಾ ಇನ್ನು ಸ ಬರ್ಲಿಲ್ಲ" "Entha saava?! ava innu sa barlilla"

"What kind of death? He is still not here!"

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Hebrew Israel

מגניב

Slang USED Frequently BY Almost Everyone

(adj.) • (thieving) • Cool, excellent and special

" לכתוב ערך לגבי המילה מגניב זה לא מאוד מגניב"

"Writing an entery about the word cool is not very cool"

German Germany

den Teufel an die Wand malen

Idiom USED Frequently BY Older people

(to paint the devil on the wal) • When we assume the worst of a situation before anything has even happened. It can be discouraged to say - don't anticipate awful things or they will happen.

"Kommt ein andere Krieg gleich." "Mal den Teufel nicht and den Wand malen."

“Another war is about to happen.” “Don’t paint the devil on the wall.”

German Germany, Switzerland, Austria

doch

Word USED Very frequently BY everybody

It means "No, you are wrong and I am right" in one word.

"Hier darf man nicht schneller als 50 Meilen fahren!“ "Doch!"

"You cannot drive faster than 50 miles here!" "Yes, you can!"

German Berlin, Germany

jwd

Acronym USED On Occasion BY Everybody

Short for "janz weit draußen" (well out there). Something far away, difficult to access because it is far outside.

"Der Laden ist jwd."

"The supermarket is far away."

Portuguese Brazil

sextou

Slang USED Frequently BY Young people

(it has Fridayed) • The expression transforms the noun "Friday" ("sexta-feira") into a verb (conjugated in the past, meaning "it has Fridayed"). It is used to mean "the weekend is here", or "let's start the weekend".

"Sextou? Vamos no bar tomar uma cerveja?"

"Has it Fridayed? Shall we go to the pub have a beer?"

German Germany

0815

Expression USED Very frequently BY Everyone

Means something is very low quality.

"This password is 0815"

German Germany

Verömmeln

Slang USED On Occasion BY Middle aged folks

To fail at something, to screw something up, to lose something, or to screw someone over.

"Ich wollte die Zündkerzen tauschen, aber ich habe es verömmelt."

"I wanted to change the spark plugs but I messed it up."

German Germany

Jubelperser

Expression USED On Occasion BY Mostly people who have been politically interested in the 60s

(cheering-Persians) • A claqeur, a person who has been paid to applaud or cheer for someone. Mostly used as an insult to insinuate someone either does not have their own opinion or would not have real support by the audience. The term appeared in 1967 when the Shah of Iran visited Berlin and had intelligence agents cheer at the road and beat up protesters.

"Das Publikum war voller Jubelperser. "

"The audience was full of cheering-Persians. "

Russian/Ukrainian Russia

зря

Word USED Frequently BY everybody

(in vain) • Standalone, it indicates disapproval of an action someone says to have done, about it being pointless

"Я рассказал ему все" "зря"

"I told him everything" "In vain"

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Chinese China

成全

Expression USED Frequently BY Likely most Chinese speaking countries

(help) • When a man is cheating on a woman, the woman may choose to stay in the relationship, and may also choose to leave. Sometimes when they choose to leave, they will tell others they choose to leave to 成全他们 (Chéng Quán Tā Mēn, literally: help them), as in: they seems to be a perfect match, I will step aside and help them to be the perfect couple. This is sort like the "acceptance" stage of grief. But depending on the perspective this can also be interpreted as self-moved: you didn't do anything much but thought your act was noble.

A:我听说你男朋友劈腿了。 B:对我们分手了,我成全了他们。

A: I heard your boyfriend was cheating on you. B: Yes we broke up, I helped them.

Serbian Kordun, Croatia

stucka

Slang USED In the past BY Everybody

Slang for 'testicle'.

"Bole me stucke!"

"My balls hurt!"

English United Kingdom

not as green as cabbage-looking

Idiom USED On Rare Occasion BY Some people

To not be as naive as someone appears. To be smarter or more intelligent than expected.

"They tried to hide the dent so I'd pay full price, but I'm not as green as I am cabbage-looking."

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German Germany

Alter

Word USED On Occasion BY Teens, young people

(old one) • Used to address a (usually familiar or close) person as you would call someone "dude" or "bro" in English, regardless of their actual age.

"Alles klar, Alter?" "Alter, was laberst du?" "Was geht, Alter?"

Serbian Kordun, Croatia

biljac

Slang USED In the past BY Everybody

Slang for a woolen blanket.

"Napravila sam novi biljac i sada udobna sam."

"I made a new blanket and now I'm comfortable."

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Swedish Sweden

paltkoma

Expression USED On Occasion BY Everybody, especially full people

(palt coma) • An expression to describe the utter sense of fatigue experienced after eating a large amount of food. In Norrland the variation "paltkoma" is used to describe the feeling after eating a large amount of "palt", a form of potato dumplings. South of Norrland the most common expression is instead "matkoma".

"Jag fick paltkoma av den goda pitepalten" "Jag fick matkoma av att äta alla dom där plättarna"

"I got a palt coma from the tasty pitepalt" "I got a food coma from eating all those pancakes"