How to best piss off all your fellow Europeans? Learn here how to avoid inefficient general insults and instead go straight to the heart of the matter, thus saving time, which can be invest in improving the economy or maybe cleaning up the place a bit.
What exactly happened to make it illegal to own a single guinea pig? Who thought it credible to forbid getting drunk in a pub? Or to stop people locking up burglars, running 'violently', driving dirty cars, or sleeping on a bench?
Hold your horses! How much do you know about Europeans' animal idioms? Does the Slovenian roosters' breakfast ring you a bell? Will you pay the Portuguese duck for that? Do not worry: we won't let you swallow French grass snakes!
You're looking for a friend called 'Pierre Martin' in France ? Hard cheese, he's going to be tough to find. Don't even try to type 'Rossi' in an Italian search engine! Meanwhile, in Germany, 'Müller' is so frequent that you may end up... in a supermarket!
Have you ever wondered what your neighbouring country’s nicknames are, and how they got them? Do you know which European country is considered the Land of a Thousand Lakes? Where do the nicknames ‘Albion’, ‘Hellas’, ‘Magyars’ or ‘Lusitania’ come from?
It’s all about European cuisine… but in its great diversity! Mahlzeit! wishes you the German, Hyvää ruokahalua! replies the Finn, Dobrou chuť! says the Czechs and Bon Appétit! answers the French.
Apart from “haha” or “lol” in English, have you ever wondered how European languages indicate laughter on social media? Have you ever seen a Finn writing *reps* online, a German laughing with *grins* or an Estonian typing “irw”?
The ‘old boy‘, the ‘longfellow‘, the ‘bratwurst‘, the ‘pink oboe‘, the ‘trouser snake‘, the ‘love whistle‘… We often reward lifelong friends with a nickname... and Europeans do not lack creativity when it comes to referring to their manhood.
Don’t pretend you forgot “Simon says…” Well, you will now be able to play the game in all European languages, as it appears that Simon has a couple of other friends throughout Europe who are famous for giving commands in their own language.
When Spaniards “pretend to be Swedish“, they just pretend to be ignorant… When Romanians “steal the German’s pipe“, they are just getting drunk… And Slovenians “go to Rome” when they give birth!
Copyright © europeisnotdead, 2020
