10 Cultural Idioms That Sound Hilarious When Translated Literally

  • Publish date: since 9 hours Reading time: 1 min read

Cultural Idioms That Sound Hilarious When Translated Literally

To Walk in the Cabbage

An Onion Should Grow in Your Navel

May the Snail Step on You

The Hen Chicken Has Passed

To Blow Little Ducks

To Feed the Donkey Sponge Cake

To Have a Red Cat Passing Across

To Slide In on a Shrimp Sandwich

To Tie a Bear to Someone

To Walk Around Hot Porridge

  • 1 / 10
Related articles
Kuwaiti Novelist Taleb Al-Refai Received French Badge of Honor
Filipino in Kuwait Finds a Hilarious Note About Frying Fish
Laugh out Loud with Bassem Youssef in Kuwait on This Date

Idioms are  like the final peephole into a culture’s soul, but if you translate them word for word, it often turns that poetic bit into pure accidental comedy. Like when you remove the local context, phrases that are totally normal suddenly become wild little stories with flying cows, irritated salads, and random animals that really should not be anywhere near your sentence. Looking at those literal versions makes you see how delightfully messed up language can get, if you take it all at face value even too much.
 

Related articles