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German idioms straight from the kitchen cupboard

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Dagmar Breitenbach, Deutsche Welle

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="This handout photo obtained March 3, 2021 courtesy of Sotheby" s="" shows="" a="" Chinese="" century="" bowl="" that="" was="" sold="" by="" chance="" for="" at="" yard="" sale="" and="" is="" now="" about="" out="" to="" be="" auctioned="" estimated="" value="" of="" AFP="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/afp/03/04/ming-dynasty-bowl.jpg"/><figcaption>This handout photo obtained March 3, 2021 courtesy of Sotheby&#x27;s shows a Chinese 15th century bowl that was sold by chance for $35 at a yard sale and is now about out to be auctioned for a estimated value of $300,000 to $500,000. <em>Sotheby&#x27;s/AFP/Handout</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Various German idioms refer to cookware and utensils in a figurative sense. Spoons, for example, serve as a symbol of wisdom and death, while the frying pan is a threat.</p><p>&quot;Zu jedem Topf gibt es den passenden Deckel&quot; translates as &quot;every pot has a matching lid,&quot; which means there is a matching partner for everyone. </p><p>Knives, spoons, plates, pans and pots feature in quite a few German idioms.</p><p>Sometimes cookware terms have a second meaning that has nothing to do with kitchen equipment.</p><p>For example, &quot;Pfanne&quot; is the German word for a pan, but it can also refer to a small receptacle, a pan, in matchlock and flintlock rifles into which the priming powder was poured.</p><p>So the idiom &quot;etwas auf der Pfanne haben&quot; (literally, to have something on the pan) rather refers to being ready to fire away — and means that someone is clever, well prepared.</p><p>* &quot;Du hast einen Sprung in der Schüssel&quot;: If an incensed German turns to you with those words, they are not referring to a cracked bowl in your cupboard. It is not a compliment, but means you are off your rocker, not quite right in the head, crackers.</p><p>* A situation that is touch and go, which can go either way, and where things need to be carefully balanced can be described as being &quot;auf Messers Schneide,&quot; which directly translates as &quot;on the edge of the knife.&quot; An equivalent idiom in English rather refers to the razor&#x27;s edge.</p><p>* &quot;Ans Messer liefern&quot; means to betray someone, send them to their doom. &quot;Die Messer wetzen&quot; (sharpen the knives) can describe a person preparing for an argument, and &quot;Messer an die Kehle setzen&quot; (putting a knife to someone&#x27;s throat) is to force that person to make a decision. Recklessness can lead a person to colloquially run straight into the open knife, &quot;ins offene Messer laufen.&quot;</p><p>* The German idiom &quot;Vorsicht ist die Mutter der Porzellankiste&quot; translates as, &quot;caution is the mother of the china box.&quot; The imagery is clear: You want to handle anything as fragile as china with utmost care and caution — just like any potentially dicey or uncertain situation. In other words, better safe than sorry!</p><p>* Porcelain and glass can easily break, but this German idiom warns that happiness or luck (which both translate as &quot;Glück&quot;) is just as fragile: &quot;Glück und Glas, wie leicht bricht das&quot; is a warning to not take anything that can easily crack or fade for granted.</p><p>* In German, &quot;in die Pfanne hauen&quot; literally means to throw something into a frying pan. However, depending on context, it&#x27;s not about frying eggs or steak, but about telling on someone, giving them away, ratting them out or playing a dirty trick on them. Being hurled into the idiomatic frying pan would give someone a raw deal.</p><p>* The German idiom &quot;über den Tellerrand gucken&quot; literally means to peer over the rim of your plate. If you always peer into or at the plate set before you, you will never experience anything else — in other words, you should raise your eyes to see beyond your own nose and take in the bigger picture, think outside the box.</p><p>* The imagery in this German idiom involves spoons. &quot;Die Weisheit nicht mit Löffeln gefressen haben&quot; literally translates as someone &quot;not having eaten wisdom with a spoon&quot;: The person described in this way is regarded as simple, foolish or slow — not the brightest bulb in the box.</p><p>* Bite the dust, kick the bucket, go toes up — a German slang term for dying also involves spoons: &quot;den Löffel abgeben,&quot; to hand over the spoon. The idiom likely goes back to the Middle Ages, when people would always carry with them their own personal spoon made of wood or bone. When they died, this spoon would pass to someone else.</p><div><strong>Related video:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wjj1eIE3lBk?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Cracked bowls, knives and frying pans: Various German idioms refer to cooking tools in a figurative sense.	

German idioms straight from the kitchen cupboard

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German idioms straight from the kitchen cupboard

Dagmar Breitenbach,

Deutsche Welle

Published Aug 25, 2022 02:23 PM PHT

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Deutsche Welle

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