• TwoTiredMice@feddit.dk
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    2 days ago

    The worst part for me is mixing sayings and the construction of sentences. I’ve never been that good at English grammar, but after using English more and more, my grammar in my native language have gotten worse. I’m half way in a sentence, in my native language, before I notice I’ve started on an English saying, but directly translated to my native language and it makes no sense. But, there’s no cow on the ice, as you say, because my wife and I are like pots and pans, as you also say; we are the same way.

    • samus12345@sh.itjust.works
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      10 hours ago

      “Like pots and pans” would best be translated into English as “like peas in a pod,” but “no cow on the ice” has nothing similar I can think of and would need a totally different idiom.

      • TwoTiredMice@feddit.dk
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        8 hours ago

        Yes, you’re right and to my knowledge there isn’t anything similar to the “no cow on the ice” in the English language.

        Well, Wiktionary translated it to “the coast is clear”.

        Originally it was “No cow on the ice, as long as its butt is on dry land”.

        My issue is that I would often start on something like “like peas in a pod” but directly translated Danish, which wouldn’t be something people would say.

    • ThunderclapSasquatch@startrek.website
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      2 days ago

      I’m going to guess Swedish on the cow one, or at least Scandinavian, it sounds like something I’d hear out of the northern Midwest about things not being chaotic

      • VonReposti@feddit.dk
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        2 days ago

        Definitely Danish, it’s a very common saying around here. Basically means that there’s no problem.