Favorite "non-English" phrases?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hiyaku! (Japanese for "hurry up". We had a burger stand on the base at Yokosuka called "The Hiyaku Inn". It didn't have any dining area, just a walk-up window.

[electricmonk]

me cago en la leche de tu puta madre
I shit in the milk of your whore mother

Not a phrase but love the sound of

mierda - shit

em

ETA: also this because it was the first Spanish proverb I learned:
El pájaro que se levanta temprano, agarra primero el gusano

[JOZeldenrust]

Plimpplampplettere: Dutch for skimming stones.

No it isn't.

[Feck]

The case of the missing plimpplampplettere
I posted a link on Friday to an article discussing neat words in non-English languages (taken from the new book, The Meaning of Tingo) and cited the Dutch word "plimpplampplettere" as my favorite. The article says:

But it's those fun-loving people in the Netherlands who should have the last word -- the phrase for skimming stones is as light-hearted as the action: plimpplampplettere.

Several Dutch have emailed to say that there's no such word in their language. Language Log says we should take the book with a huge grain of salt:

De Boinod is no linguist (he's a researcher for the BBC comedy quiz show QI), but he claims to have read "over 280 dictionaries" and "140 websites" (or, according to his publisher's site, "approximately 220 dictionaries" and "150 websites" -- take your pick). It's safe to assume that the fact-checking for such books is rather minimal -- if a website says it, it must be true, right?

The lesson here is don't believe everything you read on the web about books based on what someone read on the web.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Guinness"

[JOZeldenrust]

I had a wolly hat bearing the legend, "De puta madre", my little bro bought it.
Apparently it means, of whore mother.. although I have heard it is a double meaning and could be considered to say, mother fucking cool.
But I don't really know. Anyone offer to fill in the gaps?

In Spanish, it's usual to drop the indefinite article in sentence structures that indicate a possesive relationship. So "de puta madre" is derived from "de una puta madre". It's more accurately translated as "of a whore mother". Written on a garment, it could easily be read as "This person is the offspring of a whore mother." Off course that would apply to your brother as well.

I suppose "de puta madre" could be read as an expression of surprise, but not more so then an expletive such as "motherfucker" or "shit" can,

[Berthold]

mir ist wuerst

german
Mine's a sausage, I'm a sausage.

meaning 'I don't care'

Hmmm .... It lacks a certain je ne sais quoi for me ...

Es ist mir wurs(ch)t: "It's sausage to me." Since no one except the maker really knows what's in a sausage , this item is frequently held in low esteem, which finds its way into common sayings. You can now guess the meaning when someone says, das ist für die Würscht "that is for the sausages (i. e. an ingredient of them)".

Wurst is Standard German, Wurscht southern accent.

[owtth]

I had a wolly hat bearing the legend, "De puta madre", my little bro bought it.
Apparently it means, of whore mother.. although I have heard it is a double meaning and could be considered to say, mother fucking cool.
But I don't really know. Anyone offer to fill in the gaps?

In Spanish, it's usual to drop the indefinite article in sentence structures that indicate a possesive relationship. So "de puta madre" is derived from "de una puta madre". It's more accurately translated as "of a whore mother". Written on a garment, it could easily be read as "This person is the offspring of a whore mother." Off course that would apply to your brother as well.

I suppose "de puta madre" could be read as an expression of surprise, but not more so then an expletive such as "motherfucker" or "shit" can,

It does means the whore's mother and is usually used to refer to something being exceptionally good. I have a friend here who goes by the name Xavi De Puta Madre because of his love of partying.

[Dasein]

tiene su onda ~ "]has it's wave": its unique and pleasing way

[JOZeldenrust]

I had a wolly hat bearing the legend, "De puta madre", my little bro bought it.
Apparently it means, of whore mother.. although I have heard it is a double meaning and could be considered to say, mother fucking cool.
But I don't really know. Anyone offer to fill in the gaps?

In Spanish, it's usual to drop the indefinite article in sentence structures that indicate a possesive relationship. So "de puta madre" is derived from "de una puta madre". It's more accurately translated as "of a whore mother". Written on a garment, it could easily be read as "This person is the offspring of a whore mother." Off course that would apply to your brother as well.

I suppose "de puta madre" could be read as an expression of surprise, but not more so then an expletive such as "motherfucker" or "shit" can,

It does means the whore's mother and is usually used to refer to something being exceptionally good. I have a friend here who goes by the name Xavi De Puta Madre because of his love of partying.

You sure? I mean, you're in Barcelona, so I reckon your Spanish is a lot better then mine, but:

That translation would be a nominal constituent "De Puta Madre" with "Madre" as head and a prenominal prepositional constituent "De Puta". Such a construction is ungrammatical in Spanish.

Source:
http://books.google.com/books?id=IOgExr ... ve&f=false

[MrFungus420]

Tu est bete comme tes pieds (French, sp(?))

Literal translation: You are as stupid as your feet.

[owtth]

You sure? I mean, you're in Barcelona, so I reckon your Spanish is a lot better then mine, but:

That translation would be a nominal constituent "De Puta Madre" with "Madre" as head and a prenominal prepositional constituent "De Puta". Such a construction is ungrammatical in Spanish.
]

My grammar is far from perfect

Over here when using insults grammar can take a backseat so there should be an extra "en" that is omitted. Another popular one omitting an "en" is "ostia, me cagun la puta" which means "Holy communion, I shit on the whore!" Mind you this could be just a Catalan construction.

[Beelzebub2]

Fung'p norp çiç liggl-tor-liggl'n.

[Svartalf]

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Chissu-k'k, t'drappenfronk lph y lphr.