Snot on a Wire

From Say What? Talk Like a Local Without Putting Your Foot In It, a dictionary of translated idioms published by Lonely Planet in 2004. 

Kick the bucket

German:Den Löffel abgeben / To give away the spoon Czech:Natáhnout Baèkory / To stretch the slippers Swedish:Att trilla av pinnen / To fall off the stick LatvianNolikt karoti / To put down the spoon Dutch:Het hoekje omgaan / To go around the corner Danish:Stille træskoene / To leave your clogs behind

Shake like a leaf

Czech:Chvit sejak osika /To be moving like an aspen tree Latvian:Ka punkis us drats / Like snot on a wire

When pigs fly

French:Quand les poules auront des dents / When hens have teeth Spanish:Cuando las ranas crien pelo / When frogs grow hair Russian:Kag-da rak svist-myet / When the crayfish whistles Turkish:Balik aðaca / When fish climb trees Filipino:Pagputi ng uwak / When the crow turns white Finnish:Kun lehmät lentää / When cows fly

When hell freezes over

Croatian:Kad na vrbi rodi grozdie / When grapes ripen on the willow Dutch:As Pasen en Pinksteren op één dag vallen / When Easter and Pentecost are on the same day German:Wenn es im Sommer schneit / When it snows in summer Italian:Nella settimana dei due giovedì / In the week with two Thursdays Spanish:El dia del arquero / Goalkeeper’s day Slovenian:Ob svetem nikoli / On Saint Never’s Day Portuguese:No dia de São Nunca / On Saint Never’s Day

It’s all Greek to me

German:Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof / It’s all railway station to me Czech:Je to pro mne španelská vesnice / It’s a Spanish village to me French:C’est du chinois / It’s Chinese