35 Comments
835
I believe this refers to the song Ko över Sarek by Norrlåtar.
Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9VO8sRGPBI
Lyrics: http://www.gugalyrics.com/lyrics-26559/norrl%C3%A5tar-ko-%C3%B6ver-sarek.html
I was wondering if Swedish had its own idiom that had the meaning of "when pigs fly". Tack ändå!
I believe the original is actually "när grisar kan flyga!". Another Swedish idiom would be "när asfalten blommar!"
In French: when chickens have/grow teeth (Quand les poules auront des dents)
- 1563
Birds descended from dinosaurs (they’re technically considered dinosaurs), so I suppose it should be ‘when chickens grow teeth again’...
In dutch we say when sparrows grow teeth :p (wanneer de mussen tanden krijgen)
In russian we say "когда рак на горе свистнет" — "when the cancer on the mountain whistles"
a lot of slavic languages use the same word (rak) for the animal (crab), and the horoscope sign and disease (cancer)
- 16
Actually, the Finnish equivalent of 'when pigs fly' is Ja lehmät lentävät ('And cows fly')! :)
Croatian: "kad na vrbi rodi grožđe" - "when grape(vine)s sprout on a willow". Though, it might be possible nowadays with horticultural grafting?
And since we're talking bovine idioms - is there any good Swedish equivalent for "till the cows come home"?
The version in Portuguese for "when pigs fly" is "no dia de São Nunca" ("in Saint-Never's day")... And some people joke in response that All Saints Day (November 1st) would be also devoted to "Saint-Never"! :D
In Dutch we have "wanneer Pasen en Pinksteren op een dag vallen". When Easter and Pentecost are on the same day.
I was thinking of "met Sint Juttemis" but that would be a lot harder to translate. I also found "als de kalveren op het ijs dansen" (when the calves are dancing on ice), which I've never heard anyone say, but we should totally start using that again because it sounds awesome.
We also say: "met st. Juttemus." On the day of a saint that doesn't exist.
- 298
This sentence is very Chinese lol. In Chinese, when somebody is boasting, people would say "a cow is flying in the sky", the second half sentence follows like "there must be a blowing guy on the ground (who blows the cow into the sky), and that's you!"
Better than a flying bear: http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE7573RN20110608
In Polish: Prędzej mi kaktus na dłoni wyrośnie ("Sooner the cactus grows on my palm.").
When pigs fly = when pattens bloom (in Bulgarian), or when you see your nose w/o a mirror or via crooked macaroni or in a cuckoo's day/summer :)
- 364
I can quite easily see my nose without a mirror. I may have found a new thing to be self conscious about. (-:
... or perhaps it should be (c:
Ett apkoppel med tre halsband!
I'm not sure trehövdad is a great word for the course, though. :)
