Each German idiom below comes with what its words literally say, what it means and how other languages put the same idea. To see every language at once, open the side-by-side page for talking.
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lit. ‘talk around the hot porridge’
To avoid saying the important thing directly.
Elsewhere
- EN Beat around the bush
- FR Tourner autour du pot
- ES Irse por las ramas
- IT Menare il can per l’aia
- JA お茶を濁す
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Jemandem einen Bären aufbinden
lit. ‘tie a bear on someone’
To tease someone by telling them something untrue as a joke.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘let the cat out of the bag’
To reveal a secret, often by accident.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘lie like print’
To lie shamelessly while knowing full well it isn't true.
Elsewhere
- EN Lie through your teeth
- FR Mentir comme un arracheur de dents
- ES Mentir más que hablar
- IT Mentire per la gola
- JA 真っ赤な嘘
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lit. ‘step into the little pot of grease’
To say or do something tactless that embarrasses you or upsets someone.
Elsewhere
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Treppenwitz
lit. ‘staircase joke’
To think of the perfect reply only after the moment to say it has passed.
Elsewhere
- FR L’esprit de l’escalier
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Vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen kommen
lit. ‘to get from the little piece of wood onto the little stick’
To jump suddenly from one topic to a completely unrelated one.
Elsewhere
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Aus einer Mücke einen Elefanten machen
lit. ‘make an elephant out of a mosquito’
To treat a small problem as if it were a big one.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘to talk like a waterfall’
To talk a lot, often without stopping.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘nonsense with sauce’
To talk nonsense or tell tall stories.
Elsewhere
Phrases in bold with a red marker are written up. The rest don’t have their own page yet.