有一只水母在我的头上 - Ends 20th January

[Jssy]

Bet you were all wondering what that title meant weren't you? I love learning about different cultures and learning new languages. Lately I have been looking into learning Japanese but it seems very hard to grasp the accent, so last night I was looking at basic phrases in Mandarin, which is the most widely used language in the world if you didn't know! Most of us will have studied languages at school so everyone should have come across words from a different language - I did Spanish and French, but I absolutely hated French Occasionally whilst looking through vocabulary of other languages, I come across some very funny phrases. 有一只水母在我的头上 is Mandarin and translates to 'I have a Jellyfish on my head'. I also found other translations, for example 'Please may you hold my cat whilst I dance'.

You might have also heard some funny phrases whilst learning a new language, or you might have just heard them. For this competition I'd like you to post below any funny phrases or words you have come across, and what they mean in the language they are in.
Please keep them clean and within the forum rules!

Good Luck!

Prize: 5 credits + 15 rep
Click here for more information about prizes

[Cassiieee]

Don't through the baby out with the bathwater

- Hang on to valuable things when getting rid of unnecessary things

[Reality]

1. Kummerspeck (German)
Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.

[MKR&*42]

The only one I can ever remember (German) mutterseelenallein - It's basically when you're entirely alone, as if your mother and your soul have left you.

This explains it better:

But the Germans misunderstood the phrase as "mutterseelen" (mother's souls) and added the word "allein" (alone) so that the phrase would make sense to them.

When you're "mother's souls alone," as this German adjective literally translates to, there is neither your mother nor any other soul around you. When you're "mutterseelenallein" you're not just alone, you're completely, utterly, alone.