Language is malleable, and that irks a lot of people.
I can't tell you how many of my "proper" English-speaking friends went nuts when "irregardless" made its way into validation.
The tears that were shed.
It's fascinating how every culture and country or even city can have its own dictionary.
You visit a place and ask a question, but you can get lost in the answer.
Slang is fun, but it should be accompanied by an app or guide when you arrive at a foreign destination.
Just so nobody is insulted.
Redditor gingerbookwormlol wanted to chat about the mystery of language, so they asked:
"What is a common slang in your language that would sound hilarious or bizarre to a foreigner?"
Poetry
“'Taking one’s pants off to fart' means doing something extra and redundant.
- weinsteinjin
"It’s mandarin 脱裤放屁."
- Kimmi126
When you gotta go...
"'Having a chess match with The Pope.'"
"Means to take a s**t."
- AxlSynth
My nephew calls it 'releasing the chocolate dragons from their cave.'"
- mastershake20
"Dropping the kids off at the pool."
- DV8_2XL
Hey Bud
"'We're not here to f**k spiders' means we aren't here to f**k around/waste time."
"Calling your friends 'c*nt' and people you wanna fight 'mate.'"
- MissMurder8666
"I need to know the origin story of the spider one."
- WittyBonkah"I’m pretty sure it’s a military thing, the original phrase was 'we’re not here to drink spiders,' as in, we aren’t here to laze around and slack off. (A 'spider' in Australian English is a soda with a scoop of ice cream in it). The phrase was taken up in the military, who, in their typical fashion, inserted profanity and vulgarity because of reasons."
- Attackoftheglobules
The End
"Something's at 'the a** of the world' - Aka it's far away (from x)."
- Chance_Echo2624
"The arse end of nowhere."- Psychological-Tie899
- outfoxingthefoxes
"I like this one. I usually say 'Right before the world ends,' but I like yours better."- TCKline01
Options
"I think my personal favorites are 'heaven and pancake!' to express surprise or exasperation, and 'this didn’t taste like wrestler’s pants' to compliment someone on their cooking."
- Swingingpedipalps
"Heaven and pancake is a delightful expression. I’m going to start saying that instead of my current go-to of 'Christ on a bike.'"- calibrateichabod
"'Cheese on Bread' is a Barbadian version of your 'heaven and a pancake.' Sometimes abbreviated to just "Cheese on.'"
- affordable_firepower
For the Love of Nouns
"Putting the word 'absolute' or 'complete' before literally any noun, and it becomes an insult."
"You absolute teaspoon!"
- JRCSalter
"American, but I love doing this as well because it makes people pay more attention to the insult. They aren't merely an idiot. They are THE PREMIER moron of the county, and they need to dwell on that for a few seconds."
- gengarsnightmares
Gordon Ramsey Idiot GIFGiphy
You do WHAT on TV?
"In South Carolina, USA, the term 'shag' is a type of dance. You should have seen the faces of my British friends when I told them I used to shag on local TV when I was a kid."
- chadork
"Or going to a 'shag competition' or 'my parents taught me how to shag' or 'I was shagging with my cousin at the wedding reception.'"
"I was scrolling through this thread trying to think of some southern-isms."
"When I was a kid, we said 'coke' down here instead of soda, and it would be 'what kind of coke you want?' Which now sounds like you have a choice of cocaine... lol."
- local_fartist
Finished
"'... and Bob's your uncle.'"
"Meaning, 'there you have it,' or 'it's done.'"
"I was trying to explain this one to my Korean co worker the day, and she told me she didn't have an uncle Bob, so it wouldn't make sense for her to say it."
- nmm66
"I used to work with an Indian woman and one of our coworkers loved goofy expressions like that. Our manager at the time was also named Bob. So when my coworker said 'And Bob's your uncle!' she gave him a look like he was going senile and said 'No... Bob's my manager.' We all cracked up and when we explained the expression to her she thought it was hilarious."
- lookitsnichole
Fallen
"Went to college with a Hispanic lady and English was her second language. She was a little confused when we were talking about a lab test for the liver enzyme GGT that helps doctors see if patients have 'fallen off the wagon.' We had to explain the idiom wasn’t literal and meant that the patient had started drinking alcohol in excess after getting sober."
- deviousD
Gutter Speak
"Doing something redundant is 'Carrying Owls to Athens.'"
"In my dialect telling somebody to go screw themselves is either 'You can slide down my back' or 'You can climb into my pocket.'"
"'Would you be so kind to repeat what you just said, please?' said in my dialect tells you VERY clearly you now have this ONE chance to retract your comment! There's a comedian who dubbed this over Darth Vader choking the officer, and it fit perfectly."
"'Dachshund' is an insult. 'Half a Dachshund' is a grave insult. There's also the 'Grass Dachshund' but I don't know why."
"'From the rain into the gutter' means the same as out of the frying pan into the fire."
"Also there are some sayings that mean something like 'I believe I'm going crazy' like 'The dog goes crazy in the pan,' 'I think my pig whistles' and 'I think my hamster polishes the floor.'"
- horschdhorschd
WTF?!?!
"'Fac eu' In Romanian means I'll do it So when a kid at the grocery store yelling at his mom that he can do it, he can do it Screams 'fac eu, fac eu' at their parents... It's a head turner for sure!"
- MisterEmanOG
No Way Wtf GIF by HarlemGiphy
Yeehaw!
"In Texas we say..."
"Fixin' to" has nothing to do with repairing anything. Just means you're getting ready to do something,. 'We are fixin' to go to the store.'"
"'That dog don't hunt' has nothing to do with hunting. It means that idea won't work. Jim pitches an idea for submarine with a screen door. Bob says, 'That dog don't hunt.'"
"'All hat no cattle' has nothing to do with ranching. It means someone who looks the part and talks the talk but that's it, they don't walk the walk."
- lipp79
God Save the Queen
"Off the top of my head; that's sound, that's gas, that's deadly, great craic, sure you know yourself, yer man, yer one, my/yer mot, I was meetin her at the back of the bar, arra, the big shmoke, gone to the jacks/bog, have a few jars, knackers, tinkers, west Brit, the pale, the shticks, bogger, gwan out of that, tis a soft day, eejit, amadan, have a sesh, that's grand, he's got notions, think your great/grand."
- mastervolum
Fky High
"In French we have the expression 'uer une mouche avec un cannon,' which translates to 'killing a fly with a cannon.' It’s used to describe an action that is excessive in nature. I’ve always wondered how one manages to aim a cannon at a fly to be able to hit it in the first place."
- Charles_De-Gaulle
With horns?
"Bull means sex . If I used it in a sentence 'Yeah we bull every now and again.'"
- Tu_Naranja
Happy Dance GIF by credibleGiphy
I'm in love with all of this madness.
Everyone has so many ways of saying "You're too much!"
I think that it's important to express this in every language.
And Texas and the Brits... you win in my book.
Y'all are the quirkiest.
@jman42/Bluesky
@SecretaryBurgum/X
@Doug Ellin/X
@evanrachelwood/Instagram