Invent an Idiom

[Vuvuzela]

ǁKhí ǂko qáo pè !xa ḥâp.
[Direction GEN morning win.race glory]
To win a race to morning against glory.
Next: The feeling you get when you remember something that you'd been forgetting for the whole day just after it becomes useless.

[Thry]

Next: to be gullible

I think this one hasn't been done.

Seguer (alc) tal les bixos la lum.
"to follow (sth.) like bugs [follow] light."

seguer, lit. "to follow", can also mean by extension "to follow ideologically", and consequently also "accept things".

Usage example: Prend car de que t'en digan. Séus qualcos tal les bixos la lum!
"Be careful with what you're told about it. You're so gullible! (lit. you follow whatever like bugs follow light"

Next: see Vuvgangujunga's next

[Yagia]

Next: The feeling you get when you remember something that you'd been forgetting for the whole day just after it becomes useless.

don'anto salio magrou faséditio a taralono adiani
after-that your [riding animal] having gone with saddle come
'to come up with the saddle after your horse's gone'

Next: a pain in the ass

[Thry]

Next: a pain in the ass

Irlandic: lye mover les ous (a alguen) lit. "to move sb's balls"

Usage example: An me movas les ous.
Don't be a pain in the ass.

Next: to laugh so hard you start clapping and rolling over the floor (c.f. Spanish "partirse el culo", to break one's ass)

[Yagia]

Next: to laugh so hard you start clapping and rolling over the floor (c.f. Spanish "partirse el culo", to break one's ass)

Couniani figro 'to laugh (oneself) blue'

Next: trying to look reluctant out of politeness while in fact you are eager as hell

[Christopher Schröder]

Doun tha unwellend Enfant.
To play the unwilling Child.

Next: To have an upset Stomach

[Ars Lande]

(Yar) gèvi ma kíkre
Weed cat with.INST eat-PFV-STV.3s

'He has eaten (grass) like the cat'.

Next: to be in an unpleasant and embarassing situation.

[clawgrip]

Next: to be in an unpleasant and embarassing situation.

Himmaswa:
mjur hui met dua
find leggings remove PERF

'to be found with one's pants off'

(not so imaginative, I know, but I never get to use 'hui' because I never talk about leggings)

Next: to take under consideration

[Jerian]

Next: to take under consideration

Zarian:
E ena taltra nedár'ito.
(I will give it to my consciousness)

ie:
- Remember to lock the door
- I will give it to my consciousness

next: good luck

[Thry]

next: good luck

Tener bona sort ~ I ty brylyen las astelyas
to have good luck ~ that stars shine upon you

Next: to have a very frail health, to be always sick

[Vuvuzela]

Next: to have a very frail health, to be always sick

Há sěb bḥi !kho, n!ā !xùs kàp wââ
To be a candle when the world is rain.
NEXT: to work very very hard on something frivolous and pointless

[Jerian]

NEXT: to work very very hard on something frivolous and pointless

Zarian:
Oh ena velastrin ardo

You are inventing a computer

(Lathan computers are very basic and practically useless, though the Lathans have spend huge amounts of time and publicity creating them)


next: to have a friendly conversation quickly turn into an argument

[Yagia]

[next: to have a friendly conversation quickly turn into an argument

altio giléno da yarto résirdara
his tongue for knife (dagger) make-change

'change his tongue into a knife'

next: your conlang equivalent of the dutch proverb: spijkers op laag water zoeken ('search for nails at low tide'; cf. try very hard to find smth to complain about)

[Jerian]

try very hard to find smth to complain about

Zarian: Selra tilok Shethril alak

To act as a Shethrin king.
1000 years ago, the monarchy of Shethrin went through the Thassala dynasty, a line of violent, aggressive kings, constantly unhappy at their people. And so the saying arose.

next:
to bark up the wrong tree

[ol bofosh]

to bark up the wrong tree

esiw ol sanesh falesh thûpa

to search for Peace/the Earth inside a sun.

Next: get a life!

[Das Baron]

Next: get a life!

I'm gonna take this as "to focus on trivial matters".

Kē pelās śemē sarastā
[ke: pela:s ʃeme: sa'rasta:]
"A bear's hairs"
Technically, this refers to any trivial matter in general. It comes from the phrase Kerra sarastes drapinćes caz, kē pelās kemme bābē ammē daildre ([kerra sa'rastes dra'pintʃes tsaz ke: pela:s kemme ba:be: amme: daildre]) "The bear mauls you, and you count the hairs on its back", which is closer to the original meaning of "get a life!"

Next: to be ready for anything

[Imralu]

Next: to be ready for anything

Ahu:

xio etsa zumu
to run at a tornado

i baru tiluk e ni(á) dugax.
there are many tiluk in his stomach
(Tiluk are a piranha-like fish that actually live up to a piranha's reputation.)


Next: to be hidden or bunkered down in a place which is not as secure as one thinks

[legolasean]

Zcit w neviema melweda w nore[/b
To live within an unseen bear's cave.

The hunters of the mahweian tribes had a fairy tale about an unseen enormous bear.

Next- To pay someone for killing your worst enemy.

[Jerian]

Next- To pay someone for killing your worst enemy.

Zarian: Uk ena Pelvar'id eliss'ep
To pay a Pelvarssian

Pelvarss is a pure libertarian society, and as such is very business oriented. Many, many mercenary and assassin groups originate here. And so, if someone has been murdered, the idiom "Someone paid a Pelvarssian" is used.


next: to have an important errand or task delayed or stopped by a frivolous coincidence.

[maıráí]

Papaia:

tladai ħu laši tladau
to dam a river with a stream


Next:
to wait and wait for something, only to have it happen after you've given up waiting

[Click]

Rīƞ:
ḍós çha māy
wait ACC rain
"to wait for rain"
Rain is quite infrequent in semideserts where the Rīƞ live.

Next: to want to eat more food than possible

[legolasean]

Lasnagnu-
'kālb-bitān-i li'
Dog-stomach-ACC DAT-1sg.
I have a dog stomach

Next: I came, I saw, I won [alt.- conquered]. ( vini, vidi, vici )

[Das Baron]

Next: I came, I saw, I won [alt.- conquered]. ( vini, vidi, vici )

Jē birrum ka hālum nemā
[ʒe: birrum ka ha:lum nema:]
"I took mountain and valley."

Next: to stubbornly refuse something, simply because of who's giving it to you

[legolasean]

teik yawng-tom's preseif
to-take young-tom.POS present
to take young tom's present.

Young Tom was a famous character from a story close to the 'shepherd and sheep fable'. In the story he is a little boy (instead of a sheep).

Next: to become famous and rich and forget where he did come from.

[Das Baron]

Next: to become famous and rich and forget where he did come from.

“To cut off the roots in favor of the branches”
Kās rādās dō kēmas baiġōmas pāśkarānō

Next: to be deliberately and repeatedly obtuse and unhelpful, simply for the amusement of driving someone crazy