I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World

Mark Frauenfelder 2:15 pm Mon Jul 13, 2009

Jag Bhalla wrote a fun book for National Geographic called I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World. It's illustrated by New Yorker cartoonist Julia Suits.

Here are some examples:

Not hanging noodles on your ears: Russian – not kidding

To live like a maggot in bacon: German – live in luxury

To reheat cabbage: Italian – rekindle an old flame

Like fingernail and dirt: Spanish, Mexico – well suited

Bang your butt on the ground: French – die laughing

Plucked like a chicken: Yiddish – exhausted

To bite the elbow: Russian – to cry over spilt milk

Smoke from 7 orifices of head: Chinese – to be furious

To become naked: Japanese – to go broke, poor

An ant milker: Arabic – a miser, tight wad

Give it to someone with cheese: Spanish – to deceive

Squeezer of limes: Hindi – self invited guest, idler

To break wind into silk: French – live the life of Riley

I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World

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