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[Arx]

Apartheid: a fun Dutch word you can use to... oh... nevermind.

...

I propose lekker, already used a lot here. Use liberally as adjective describing something (anything) as good, nice, pleasant, etc.

[Mesa]

Funnily enough, in croatian, the buffet is reffered to as the "Swedish table".

Ha. Us Poles too have a "Swedish table" in here (szwedzki stół).

Also, you guys have "once in a blue moon". We have "once in a Russian year" (raz na ruski rok).
I think it should be a thing to say raz na ruski rok (or at least ruski rok) in other languages.

Another funny Polish idiom is:
to lunge at the Sun with a hoe (rzucać się z motyką na Słońce) - to do something impossible/bite off more than you can chew.


Just thought I might as well share those. Not sure if that falls in the loanword category, but WHATEVER.

[Remuthra]

I think it should be a thing to say raz na ruski rok (or at least ruski rok) in other languages.

Sounds a bit like Ragnarok.

[scrdest]

That Arigata meiwaku thing. Isn't it just easier to sarcastically say thanks?

Not if you're explaining the event after the fact to somebody entirely else. Arigata meiwaku isn't what you say when it happens. It's the thing that happens. Also, sarcastically saying thanks would be missing the point. If you're able to be sarcastic about it without violating social convention, it's probably not arigata meiwaku.

For example, let's say you're the mailboy at a large company. You work Thursday through Monday because you have classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The president of the company hears that his mailboys have to work weekends, and finds it tragic, so he announces that he's going to change your schedule to free up your weekend. You relay up the chain of command that no, you're perfectly happy with how things are, please don't change it. It would be inconvenient.

Then you show up at the company party the following week, the president asks you to come up while he's giving a speech, puts his arms around your shoulders and announces in front of the the entire company that he's heard of the terrible plight your department faces with such terrible hours, and in the kindness of his heart he has changed everyone's schedules to give you weekends off. Everyone cheers and he hands you the microphone.

Do you:

A) Sarcastically tell him thanks
B) Smile and thank him for what he's done

If you chose B, then what he did was arigata meiwaku.

There's a similar concept in Polish: literally translated, 'bear's favor'. Something done in good faith that nonetheless and contrary to the person's intentions manages to be terribly inconvenient to you.

[Mesa]

I think it should be a thing to say raz na ruski rok (or at least ruski rok) in other languages.

Sounds a bit like Ragnarok.

Kinda.
And it's pronounced similarly, too.

That Arigata meiwaku thing. Isn't it just easier to sarcastically say thanks?

Not if you're explaining the event after the fact to somebody entirely else. Arigata meiwaku isn't what you say when it happens. It's the thing that happens. Also, sarcastically saying thanks would be missing the point. If you're able to be sarcastic about it without violating social convention, it's probably not arigata meiwaku.

For example, let's say you're the mailboy at a large company. You work Thursday through Monday because you have classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The president of the company hears that his mailboys have to work weekends, and finds it tragic, so he announces that he's going to change your schedule to free up your weekend. You relay up the chain of command that no, you're perfectly happy with how things are, please don't change it. It would be inconvenient.

Then you show up at the company party the following week, the president asks you to come up while he's giving a speech, puts his arms around your shoulders and announces in front of the the entire company that he's heard of the terrible plight your department faces with such terrible hours, and in the kindness of his heart he has changed everyone's schedules to give you weekends off. Everyone cheers and he hands you the microphone.

Do you:

A) Sarcastically tell him thanks
B) Smile and thank him for what he's done

If you chose B, then what he did was arigata meiwaku.

There's a similar concept in Polish: literally translated, 'bear's favor'. Something done in good faith that nonetheless and contrary to the person's intentions manages to be terribly inconvenient to you.

Wait, what?
I've been speaking Polish for God knows how long now (17 years at most) and I can't remember anything like that?
Maybe my memory's just being bad, I don't know.

[scrdest]

I think it should be a thing to say raz na ruski rok (or at least ruski rok) in other languages.

Sounds a bit like Ragnarok.

Kinda.
And it's pronounced similarly, too.

That Arigata meiwaku thing. Isn't it just easier to sarcastically say thanks?

Not if you're explaining the event after the fact to somebody entirely else. Arigata meiwaku isn't what you say when it happens. It's the thing that happens. Also, sarcastically saying thanks would be missing the point. If you're able to be sarcastic about it without violating social convention, it's probably not arigata meiwaku.

For example, let's say you're the mailboy at a large company. You work Thursday through Monday because you have classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The president of the company hears that his mailboys have to work weekends, and finds it tragic, so he announces that he's going to change your schedule to free up your weekend. You relay up the chain of command that no, you're perfectly happy with how things are, please don't change it. It would be inconvenient.

Then you show up at the company party the following week, the president asks you to come up while he's giving a speech, puts his arms around your shoulders and announces in front of the the entire company that he's heard of the terrible plight your department faces with such terrible hours, and in the kindness of his heart he has changed everyone's schedules to give you weekends off. Everyone cheers and he hands you the microphone.

Do you:

A) Sarcastically tell him thanks
B) Smile and thank him for what he's done

If you chose B, then what he did was arigata meiwaku.

There's a similar concept in Polish: literally translated, 'bear's favor'. Something done in good faith that nonetheless and contrary to the person's intentions manages to be terribly inconvenient to you.

Wait, what?
I've been speaking Polish for God knows how long now (17 years at most) and I can't remember anything like that?
Maybe my memory's just being bad, I don't know.

Might be a more regional thing. Wouldn't be that surprising. I mean, over here, the colloquiallisms for indoors and outdoors are exactly inverse in meaning to those in my hometown.

Raz na ruski rok has a nice English equivalent in 'once in a blue moon'. HERP DERP READING COMPREHENSION MAD SKILLZ

[DJ]

Croatian has "medvjeđa usluga" which is literally the same thing, so I doubt it's a local thing.

[Mesa]

Ah, niedźwiedzia przysługa. Right.
Yeah, it's a thing.

[Jopax]

I always thought that mean a giant ass favor. Like, there's your normal favor and then there's a whole new level of favor with bears in the equation.

[Silfurdreki]

Bear favour is a thing in Swedish as well, literally the same word: Björntjänst

It means, as mentioned, a favour that was done with good intentions but the consequences turns out bad. According to Swedish wikipedia it comes from an old French fable where a bear accidentally killed his friend when trying to kill a fly the sleeping friend's face.

[XXSockXX]

Realitätsfremd: German, "Removed from reality". Used when someone is so stupid you feel he lives in his own word.

The more common word is "weltfremd". Also it doesn't necessarily refer to stupid people or ideas, but can also mean naive, or be used to describe academic ivory tower thinking, or rich people / bureaucrats / politicians / artists / anyone else being detached fom reality.

Klette: Belgian French: a spineless, stupid sod. "Mais quelle klette ce peï!"

In German, Klette literally is the name of a  plant, but figuratively it's used to describe a very clingy person.

Bear favour is a thing in Swedish as well, literally the same word: Björntjänst

It means, as mentioned, a favour that was done with good intentions but the consequences turns out bad. According to Swedish wikipedia it comes from an old French fable where a bear accidentally killed his friend when trying to kill a fly the sleeping friend's face.

Pretty much the same thing in German (Bärendienst = literally: bear service).

My entry:
Konterbier - beer(s) you drink the next morning to counter your hangover.

[Mesa]

(Bärendienst = literally: bear service)

Public Bear Service, anyone?

[smjjames]

Konterbier kind of reads like counter-beer.

[XXSockXX]

Konterbier kind of reads like counter-beer.

That's because that's what it literally means.

[cerapa]

There's a similar concept in Polish: literally translated, 'bear's favor'. Something done in good faith that nonetheless and contrary to the person's intentions manages to be terribly inconvenient to you.

It's called karuteene here in Estonia.