Today, as part of our collection of articles on expressions, let’s focus on three different idioms from around the world. But first, let’s test your knowledge!
What do you think the Spanish saying “se me cayó el veinte”, means?
- I am no longer twenty years old
- I can hear you
- I am poor and lost
What about “la pièce est tombée”, in French?
- The theatre show is over
- I lost my coin
- I understand
What does "Den Stier bei den Hörnern packen", in German mean?
- Facing a difficulty
- Being very stubborn
- Trying to assert one’s power
In which language is “a bull in a china shop” literally translated as “An elephant in a china-filled cupboard”?
- Italian
- Dutch
- Croatian
If you are lost, then this article is right up your street!
Let’s look at the first idiom: “Me/se/te cayó el veinte”:
This Mexican idiom (or mexicanismo) has its origin in public phone booths on the street in Mexico, where you had to insert twenty cent coins (veintes) to make the phone work. When putting the coin in, you could hear it fall into the machine. Saying "se me cayó el veinte" is metaphorical. In the case of the phone, it means "I have just put in the twenty (cent coin), so now I can hear you". Today, it is used to say "I got it".
The equivalent in French does not specify the value of the coin, but the etymology is the same. “La pièce est tombée” means literally “the coin fell", but metaphorically, it also means “I got it”. For example:
ES: No había entendido, pero ya me cayó el veinte.
FR : Je n'avais pas compris, mais maintenant la pièce est tombée.
This idiom is common in Mexican Spanish, but also in French, especially in Belgium and Switzerland. Mainly because this expression is used in Belgium, a variant also exists in Belgian Dutch: "Nu valt mijn frank!" (Literally: now my franc drops); this refers to the old Belgium currency, the Belgian franc, hence why some people will now jokingly say "Nu valt mijn euro!" (Literally: now my euro drops).
Moving on to the second idiom: "Coger el, o al, toro por las astas, o por los cuernos” - “take the bull by the horns” – “Prendre le taureau par les cornes" – "prendere il toro per le corna" – "Den Stier bei den Hörnern packen" – “wziąć byka za rogi”.
This expression symbolizes the difficulty of certain tasks and the courage required to tackle them. This idiom’s origin goes back to antiquity, and the translation is similar in many languages. The Dutch language uses the same expression, but replaces the bull with the cow: “De koe bij de horens vatten”.
Can you find this expression in the following speeches: FR: 30779, 30828 ; ES: 28794?
Finally, although the second idiom includes a bull in almost all languages, this is far from being the case in the following expression: “A bull in a China shop”.
The elephant is broadly used instead of the bull in many languages, with “un éléphant dans un magasin de porcelaine” in French, “słoń w sklepie z porcelaną” in Polish, “Слон у посудній лавці” in Ukrainian, “un elefante in una cristalleria” in Italian or “un elefante en una cacharrería” in Spanish. These expressions all literally mean “an elephant in a china/porcelain shop”. It is put slightly differently in Dutch: “Een olifant in een porseleinkast”, which literally means “An elephant in a china-filled cupboard”.
Can you find this expression in the following speech: EN: 28640 ?
Our speakers are from all over the world and use their own idioms when giving speeches. Can you find other idioms on the Speech Repository?
Stay tuned for more articles on idiomatic expressions!