A caption in this weeks' latest installment of the Pfefferkörner kid detectives series uses the slang phrase von wegen. Directly translated ("from because of"?), this phrase makes very little sense. Used on its own (Von wegen!), it is a negation to a statement made by somebody else, and means "that is wrong," "not at all," "just the opposite," or just simply "no way!" The Duden dictionary defines von wegen! as auf keinen Fall! Despite some rather crude translations of the phrase on some less than dependable crowd-sourced translation sites, the phrase itself is not vulgar at all, and will only cause offense if the contradiction of a statement is inherently offensive to the person who made it. It's all about context.

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It's a bit trickier to translate von wegen when it is used in a sentence and references something specific. Here too, we have to look at the context in which the phrase is used.

Von wegen [umgangssprachlich] Kunstunterricht.

It's not true about art class.

Caption 44, Die Pfefferkörner - Cybermobbing

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In the above scenario, a girl's parents just found out she was lying when she said that her brother was with friends in an art class. Her father confronts her about her lie using von wegen.

But von wegen can also be used in a dismissive sense: 

Von wegen körperloser Sport,

So much for non-contact sports,

hätt' ich meinen Helm doch gebraucht.

I still could've made use of my helmet after all.

Caption 46, Ultimate Frisbee - Oli erklärt das Spiel

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The speaker above is talking about the fact that frisbee is generally considered to be a non-contact sport, so he is dismissing this belief as being untrue. And here again as an expression casting doubt on a supposition:

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Von wegen Öl geht aus. Die lügen doch, die Ölstaaten.

As if the oil will run out. But they're lying, the oil states.

Caption 29, Culcha Candela - Schöne neue Welt

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There is also, of course, a standard, non-slang use of the phrase von wegen in a sentence: von [genitive noun] wegen means "for [noun] reasons" or "for reasons of [noun]." Some examples: von Amts wegen (for official reasons), von Rechts wegen (for legal reasons), or von Berufs wegen (for professional reasons). 

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Further Learning
Read this lively StackExchange article about von wegen and keep your eyes out for examples used in a real world scenario on Yabla German.

Although languages are always changing due to influences of society, forms of government, and historical events, some elements of language, such as idiomatic phrases, have been preserved in languages for centuries. They come in handy in every context, for example, in the lyrics of Berlin hip hop/reggae band Culcha Candela.

Alles im Eimer...

Everything's down the drain [in the bucket]...

Caption 2, Culcha Candela - Schöne neue Welt

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Let's look at something else that can be im Eimer (ruined; done for; broken).

Nachdem er das Auto gegen die Wand gefahren hatte, war es im Eimer.
After he had driven the car against the wall, it was broken.

You are probably familiar with the sensation of having a dry mouth. Well, Thomas Raudnitzky was experiencing just that while being awarded the Metropolitan Prize for hosting the trendy magazine RheinMain Szene.

... mir blieb auch irgendwie die Spucke weg.

... somehow the spit stayed away from me [idiom: at a loss for words].

Caption 4, Preisverleihung - Bestes Magazin

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Now take a look at Lucas' "dry mouth" experience while test-riding a crazy new roller coaster in our video about Lucas' not so run-of-the-mill hobbies.

Da bleibt einem wirklich kurz die Spucke im Hals stecken.

For a moment, the spit really gets stuck in your throat [it's astonishing].

Caption 24, Lucas' Hobbys - Achterbahn und Bungee

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Figuratively, this expression means to be utterly surprised, stunned or at a loss for words. In biblical times already, it was observed that someone salivates less when afraid. This was interpreted as a sign of God that the accused was guilty, who, out of fear, was unable to say anything that could have saved him.

Use these sites to find more examples of idiomatic phrases: phrasen.com, German proverbs

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Learning Tip
A great way to improve your listening skills is watching the clips first once without captions. This will help you to focus more on the audio. Then watch them again, this time with captions. Repeat these two steps a couple of times. Do you notice an improvement? Keep practicing!