11 Aug 2016

I've found myself using American idioms more than I should.  Clearly, they're not going to be easily understood in Germany. However, It's given me a chance to learn some of the German versions too.

1. Polishing a turd

A turd is a piece of poop.  If you polish it, it might look a little prettier, but it's still a piece of poop.

From Urban Dictionary:
An impossible process that usually results in a larger, uglier turd. "She tried to look more attractive by getting plastic surgery, but let's face it, you can't polish a turd."

2. Like lipstick on a pig
Similar to the above.  

President Obama once said this about McCain and Palin's ''change'' mantra:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

3. Nine women can't make a baby in a month

I use this a lot to point out that adding manpower won't necessarily make something happen sooner. Originally a reference to Brooke's law (from "The Mythical man month")

Limited divisibility of tasks. Adding more people to a highly divisible task such as reaping a field by hand decreases the overall task duration (up to the point where additional workers get in each other's way). Some tasks are less divisible; Brooks points out that while it takes one woman nine months to make one baby, "nine women can't make a baby in one month".

4. From this morning: "Great minds think alike"

Peter Petermann told me the German version: "2 dumme, ein Gedanke"

"Two dummies, one thought."

5. Rule of thumb

A broadly accurate guide or principle, based on practice rather than theory

"As a rule of thumb you should always pay for your date’s dinner.”

6. To Set the Table

Literally, it's to put dishes, knives, forks, etc. on the table in preparation for a meal. But as an idiom: To lay the groundwork for a future event.

"To set the table for her dissertation, the author provided a preface detailing her existentialist beliefs."

7. Beating a dead horse

If someone is trying to convince people to do or feel something without any hope of succeeding, they're beating a dead horse. This is used when someone is trying to raise interest in an issue that no-one supports anymore; beating a dead horse will not make it do any more work.

8. Let's not try to boil the ocean

To attempt something that is way too ambitious, effectively impossible. An idea too broad in scope to accomplish. 

"Let's not try to boil the ocean.  We can ship an initial version and add features to it as we go."