Don't hang noodles on my ears
From "Random House Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms" by Sophia Lubensky, as reviewed by Michael Specter:
Okrit' Ameriku | To discover America (to reinvent the wheel; to come up with a breathtaking revelation everyone already knows) |
Volchy bilet | To be blacklisted; to receive a negative evaluation; to be finished |
V Tulu so svoim samovarom nye yesdyat | Don't go to Tula with your samovar (Tula is famous for making samovars) |
Metat ikru | To spawn caviar (to raise a huge fuss about something) |
Kashu maslom nye isportish | You can't spoil kasha with butter (you can't have too much of a good thing) |
s zhiru besitsya | To go mad from eating so much fat - have it so cushy you get soft |
Bolno zhirno budet | Sick with grease, painfully fat, it's a lot of fat: who does this guy think he is? Is his diet so rich he can treat everybody like a serf? |
Raskhlyobyvat kashu | Eat up the kasha - take care of mess |
Malo kashi yel | to have eaten too little kasha in your life to be worth much |
Veshat lapshu na ushi | Don't try hanging noodles on my ears (famously, Gorbachev to a member of Parliament trying to weasel out of responsibility for the failed 1991 coup |
Ni bogu svechka ni chyortu kocherga | neither a candle to God nor a rod to the devil (useless) |
Ne bogi gorshki obzhigayut | It's not God who bakes all the clay pots (get up and do what needs to be done) |
Snyavshi golovu, po volosam ne plachut | Don't cry over your hair when your head's been cut off |
Technorati Tags: Language, Russia, Words, Idioms
3 Comments:
Cute. I like the one about not crying over your hair when your head's been cut off.
My buddy said that "hanging noodles" is equivalent to "Don't pull my leg". But I'm curious about the origin. Any idea?
Has anyone heard of a book on idioms called "Don't put noodles on my ears"?
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