h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

in dutch we say "pijpen" or "de pijp roken", which literally means "smoke the pipe".

How about the dutch "Bustehouder" which is literally a "breast-holder".

A homosexual is called "poot" (pronounce as "poat") - literally a "leg", and a lesbian is a "pot" (jar).

Well - after reading utterly fascinated through the whole thread laughing aloud and by and by scribbling my desk pad full, I'll now give it to you in one huge post - cause I'm too lazy ("faul" in german, which translates as rotten, too - which I'm NOT) to post 20 single bits...

toe in german is boring, "Zehe" - and garlic has it to (cloves).
a tortoise would be a shield-toad (Schildkröte),
a hedgehog is simply an "Igel" which means nothing - but "hedgehog", I mean - a male pig sitting in bushes????
but the porcupine - a prickle-pig (Stachelschwein)... not better....

ahem - no german equivalent for "feed him" either - "tränken" is only used for livestock.
the good bust-holder exists in Germany, too.

Being an actor would mean being a show-player (Schauspieler), and if you were a narrow-foreheaded (engstirnig, meaning narrowminded) one you could always go fishing - don't forget your "Angel" (not angel, no, the fishing-rod!). although I think "angeln" hurts the fishes tooth-flesh (Zahnfleisch=gums).

that's it, so far, my brain needs a break -
and if nobody yells at me I'd like to use the word "anticiperia" you made up - it nearly describes the feeling I get waiting for the next posts happening here .

I agree on a couple of these:

The german "Zehe" is a "teen" in dutch, and it's not only a toe, but also a clove of garlic.
We also know the "Stachelschwein", although we call it "Stekelvarken".
Gums are "tandvlees" which is the same as "Zahnfleisch"

Anticiperia: You mean, I'm NOT the only one suffering from that affliction??? Shocking!!!

Anticiperia was what I felt when I saw that the header of this entry contained ye sacred word: COFFEE! (Hail to the caffeine!) As I am an addict (read: Worshipper) of the sacred Coffee (the drug be praised) I immediately took time to read it, but alas I found no comments on Coffe (three hails to the coffebean) or in deed any caffeine (hail!) related issues.
In Germany I can order a 'tasse' of Coffee (Halelujah!), however I seem to recall that in Swedish, a 'tasse' is a paw. Wonder who supplies hot-liquid-tight paws in Germany?!?
BTW - The male homosexual is called 'bøsse' in Denmark. Bøsse also happens to be slang for a gun. Weird concept, that. Or is it? As I never understood the term for the female HS, (lesbisk,) I'll not go further into that.
But the Cod (a ) is called a 'torsk', which is also slang for an incredibly silly person.
And in my town of origin, we have a ferry named Silvia Ana L, which is incredibly dirty. This made us add the Ana to the L...
Okay, I better stop before this becomes to smelly. Or what?

hello soulmate - I do have this coffeeaddiction, too. in fact, my coffeemaker is refilled every evening and stands next to my bed, so that I don't have to get up before having my first cup raises lotsa astonished headshakes when I get first-time visitors...
I even joined a church here for purpose of coffee-distribution ...

male homosexuals are normally called "schwul" in german - which is not to be confused with "schwuel" (meaning hot and humid weather) - but that doesn't have a deeper meaning I know of. female ones are "lesben" - and I think the term comes from the greek isle of Lesbos, where there was supposed to be a cult of female homosexuals in ancient times. A legend, I think. Sounds like the historic version of club holidays.... . where the heck did that topic stem from anyway?

This has nothing to do with homosexuality.

My favorite expression in any foreign language is the old Swedish folk adage (spelled phonetically, I hope someone will correct me...)

sardinen vil ot burken upnas moot hauvet

Sardines want their cans to be opened towards the sea. I interpret this to mean something like everybody wants a free lunch...

back to this subject )

We call the "legs" of a pair of trousers "pijpen" (tubes).
"Leren" is the dutch word for "learning", but also for objects made of leather (leer).

Now you can see the confusion coming, I guess. When we say "zij heeft leren pijpen", what do we mean? Does she wear leather jeans, or did she learn to ? Both translations are valid...

You can lead a horse to drink but you can't make him water.

Water means to relieve oneself.

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The correct spelling is "Sardinen vill att burken öppnas mot havet", and frankly, after have been a swede for 31 years now, I have never heard that expression. Why would the sardine want that? What's the point? A mystery, this.

How do you fit four elephants into a Mini?
Two in the front and two in the back

How do you get four elephants out of a Mini?
The same way you got them in

How do you get eleven astronauts into a Mini?
Two in the front, two in the back and seven in the ashtray

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When you say "zij heeft leren pijpen" I wonder what you've had for dinner, in particular what kinds of liquid... ()
I just decided to take the time to explain about the herb known commonly (in English-speaking regions recognising the existence of it) as flaxseed or linseed. In Denmark it's called 'hørfrø', which litterally translates back into English: 'Listen Frog!'
And they say translating is easy?!?
Anyway, I passed the big 30 recently and tonight I am throwing one heck of a partey to celebrate me. Just to make you envious, as you are reading this too far away to join. So sad...

who says this?

and - Happy Birthday to you, Kim!

Yes, a huge happy birthday! Hope you get to enjoy a nice headache, as I often do.

Happy birthday, KimotoCat!

The only thing that makes me envious is the fact that you're only 30. I passed the 40-mark last march. Anyway, from the dutch perspective you'll be having tom-cats in your head after the party Enjoy the company!

The sardine wants at least the chance to escape the doom of the human (or feline gastrointestinal system and the freedom to revive itself in the briny deep. Free! Free! Happy sardines living side by side with nature and plankton. Until they get munched by a passing seal.

That's my interpretation, anyhow.

Sounds like a sound theory to me

Try not to step on THAT tom-cat tomorrow!!

now I found something: Am I right in believing, that "öl" meens beer in some or another scandinavian language? because it meens "oil" in german *snicker*never had a "tom-cat" from having to much oil*...

Hehehe, öl might mean "ale" somewhere indeed.

That reminds me of another contribution that I should make to Ginger's page on "International Terms for Being Drunk" ( http://www.h2g2.com/A169256 )

"in de olie zijn" (being in oil) is another dutch term for her list , just like "op olie lopen" (run on oil)...

I've just got back from Hungary. While I was there I heard a true story about one of the people I was working with.
Apparently he had spent a lot of time in America and when he came back to Hungary he had picked up some Americanisms. He did not drink alcohol (tee-total in English by the way) but whenever he went into a bar and someone asked him if he wanted a drink he said "Sure, Coca Cola" and then they gave him a beer.
There was a lot of puzzlement over this until someone realised what was happening - The Hungarian work for beer is sör (s in Hungarian is like sh in English and the ö is like ea in bear) So when they heard "Sure" and thought he was asking for beer.

I thank that's really useful because all you have to do is agree to a drink and you automatically ask for beer at the same time!