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