Some German Sayings

Let's take a look this week at some German idioms as outlined in the Yabla video series Eva erklärt Sprichwörter.

Wenn du so dreinschaust, ist nicht gut Kirschen essen mit dir.

When you look like that, it's not good to eat cherries with you.

Caption 41, Marga Engel schlägt zurück - Betrug - Part 1
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The above saying has little to do with the pleasant pastime of eating cherries, but as Eva explains:

Wenn mit jemandem nicht gut Kirschen essen ist, dann meinen wir damit eine unfreundliche Person.

If it's not good to eat cherries with someone, then we mean by that an unfriendly person.

Captions 10-11, Eva erklärt - Sprichwörter - Part 2
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From eating cherries, we move up to the nose:

Früher habe ich Fußball gemocht, aber seit dem gestrigen Halbfinale hab ich die Nase voll!

I used to like soccer, but since yesterday's semi-finals, I have the nose full!

Captions 22-23, Konjugation - Das Verb „mögen“
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The person above is not literally suffering from nasal congestion, but rather:

Wenn man die Nase voll hat, dann bedeutet das, dass man auf eine bestimmte Situation keine Lust mehr hat, verärgert ist oder einer Sache überdrüssig wird.

If you have your nose full, then it means that you have no more patience for a certain situation, are annoyed, or have become weary of a matter.

Captions 34-36, Eva erklärt - Sprichwörter - Part 2
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And lastly we go from nasal situations to an apparent lack of pigs:

„Das“, sagte Frederick, „tja... das weiß kein Schwein.“

"That," said Frederick, "well... no pig knows that."

Captions 39-40, Piggeldy und Frederick - Das Fernweh
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„So lange Vorderfüße hat doch kein Schwein und damit basta!“

"But no pig has such long front feet, and that's the end of it!"

Caption 38, Piggeldy und Frederick - Unendlichkeit
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Vom Schwein spricht man übrigens auch, wenn man Desinteresse ausdrücken möchte. Dann sagt man: „Das interessiert doch kein Schwein.“

By the way, you also speak about pigs when you want to express disinterest. Then you say: "But no pig is interested in that."

Captions 55-56, Eva erklärt - Sprichwörter - Part 2
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The simplest straightforward translation of the idiom kein Schwein is thus "no-one."

Further Learning
Kein Schwein should be misunderstanding German idioms: Go to Yabla German and watch the Eva erklärt - Sprichwörter series and find other examples of these expressions in different contexts. Later in the month we will be bringing you some more examples of idioms from this Yabla series!