colloquialisms and phrases

[WalkingAlone13]

I am not sure exactly where to post this but figured it'd probably be suited to here. Apologies if it would have been better situated elsewhere.


I wondered if it would be possible to collect some of the more common day-to-day colloquialisms and phrases, so that one could just refer back to this topic. For me, when learning a new language, either I see no colloquialisms at all, or I see them but they are ones that I doubt I'd ever get the opportunity to use even if I fabricated a scenario to fit them.
Zum beispiel;
Andere Mütter haben auch schöne Töchter. - There are plenty of fish in the sea
Möge die Macht mit dir sein. - May the force be with you
sich dumm und dämlich redden - to talk until one is blue in the face
Gleich und gleich gesellt sich gern. - birds of a feather flock together
Die Kirschen in Nachbars Garten schmecken immer süßer. - The grass is always greener on the over side

Whereas for me, I'd much rather have the equivalent of everyday colloquialisms and phrases, such as "Can you put the dinner on?" "do you mind changing the channel? (TV), etc.

So, yeah, if you know any you feel would be useful, please share. I feel this could be useful to a lot of language learners, perhaps even the advanced learners, albeit to a lesser extent. And sometimes they are just interesting. I remember having a conversation with a friend about the expression "Daun drücken" - fingers crossed - as I wondered why it was to push your thumbs down and cover them with your fingers. After some research, it turned out that numerous theories exist but my favourite was to do with the gladiators and how the emperor would ask the audience whether they wanted the gladiator to live or not.

Thanks for any help

[tastyonions]

You mentioned crossed fingers, so just to focus on the bodily territory from the shoulder to the fingers, here are a few good French ones:

"Croiser les doigts": "to cross (one's) fingers," exactly as in English.
"Le bras droit": "the right arm," meaning a close assistant to a leader, similar to English "right hand" or "right-hand man."
"Un bras cassé": "a broken arm," meaning a useless person, someone you shouldn't count on.
"Mettre le doigt sur": "to put the finger on", meaning to discover or perceive something. Not *exactly* the same as English "put one's finger on it" but close.
"Avoir la main verte": "to have the green hand," meaning to be talented with gardening or raising plants, much like "green thumb."
"Bras dessus, bras dessous": "arms above, arms below," meaning "arm in arm" or "hand in hand," indicating friendship.
"Le bras de fer": "arm of iron," in the narrow sense meaning an armwrestling match, but used more generally for a struggle between two parties.
"Toucher du doigt": "to touch with the finger," meaning to suddenly realize something or discover a solution.
"Baisser les bras": "to lower the arms," meaning to give up or stop working toward something.

[Jar-Ptitsa]

[quote=“WalkingAlone13”]
I remember having a conversation with a friend about the expression "Daun drücken" - fingers crossed - as I wondered why it was to push your thumbs down and cover them with your fingers. After some research, it turned out that numerous theories exist but my favourite was to do with the gladiators and how the emperor would ask the audience whether they wanted the gladiator to live or not.

Thanks for any help

[/quote]

I think that you have made a mistake. this must be die Daumen drücken, for example, ich drücke dir die Daumen.