# I'll eat my hat



## Encolpius

Strange enough those idioms are both in *Hungarian *and *English*. You say that you think _something is very unlikely to happen_. I wonder which languages use the same idiom or another (ridiculous) one. thanks.

*Hungarian*: Megeszem a kalapom, ha... (I'll eat my hat if...)


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## bibax

Czech: Sním svůj klobouk, jestli ... (I'll eat my hat if...)


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## DearPrudence

Apparently, the French expression is simply a literal translation of the English one.
So, we also say:
*"Je mange mon chapeau si...".
"Je veux bien manger mon chapeau si..."*


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## Encolpius

bibax said:


> Czech: Sním svůj klobouk, jestli ... (I'll eat my hat if...)



Hi, did you ever hear or use that? Have you got something "more common"?


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## bibax

Yes, it is common saying. Find the song "Báječná ženská" (Michal Tučný):

_"Tenhle příběh je pravda a *sním svůj klobouk*, jestli jsem vám lhal, ..."_

= This story is true and I'll eat my hat if I lied to you, ...


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## Encolpius

bibax said:


> Yes, it is common saying. Find the song "Báječná ženská" (Michal Tučný):
> 
> _"Tenhle příběh je pravda a *sním svůj klobouk*, jestli jsem vám lhal, ..."_
> 
> = This story is true and I'll eat my hat if I lied to you, ...



Shame on me, I know that song very well. 
Thanks.


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## RaLo18

In Hebrew:
לאכול את הכובע (_le'ekhol et hakova_) - to eat the hat.


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## sakvaka

In Finnish:
_syön hattuni_ - I'll eat my hat


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## jazyk

I've never heard that in Portuguese. The literal translation would be Vou comer (o) meu chapéu. The closest I can think of is Que caia um raio na minha cabeça se (May a lightning bolt fall on my head if...) or Que a minha caia morta se (may be embellished with atrás da porta, just to rhyme, I think) (May my mother drop dead - behind the door - if...) .


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## bibax

> ... Que caia um raio na minha cabeça se (May a lightning bolt fall on my head if...) or Que a minha caia morta se (may be embellished with atrás da porta, just to rhyme, I think) (May my mother drop dead - behind the door - if...).



I think it is not the same as "I'll eat my hat...". In the case of "eating hat" the speaker promises that he will do (actively) something unpleasant.


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## Hakro

sakvaka said:


> In Finnish:
> _syön hattuni_ - I'll eat my hat


I'd say that the most common Finnish phrase in this case is: _Syön hatullisen paskaa jos... _(I'll eat a hatful of shit if...)


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## federicoft

'I'll eat my hat if...' (_mi mangio il cappello se..._) is a common expression in Italian as well, although there are probably others I can't think of right now.


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## BezierCurve

Polish: "zjem swój kapelusz", clearly a calque.

One of the most popular would be "Tu mi kaktus wyrośnie" with pointing tu your open hand ("A cactus will grow out of me here.").


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## sakvaka

Hakro said:


> I'd say that the most common Finnish phrase in this case is: _Syön hatullisen paskaa jos... _(I'll eat a hatful of shit if...)



Hmm.. 436 hits on Google for _syön hattuni_ and 447 hits for _syön hatullisen paskaa_. I've never heard of the latter one, but - yes, why not.


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## apmoy70

In Greek it's a very rare expression, I'm not sure I've ever heard it (I'm sure I've never used it my self). But since google gives 123,000 hits for it in Greek, here it is:
Θα φάω το καπέλο μου
θa f*a*o to kap*e*lo mu
lit. "I'll eat the hat of mine"


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## Hutschi

German: 

Ich fress 'nen Hut. (This is the version used mostly. I eat a hat)
Ich fress' meinen Hut. (This is an almost literal version. I feel it is used often, too.)
Ich ess 'nen Hut.
("Fress" is used in this idiom much more often than "Ess". "Fressen" has a slightly other meaning than "Essen". "Fressen" is 1. eating (when animals eat), 2. eating (when you eat like a pig: very much and very fast and without good behaviour.) In "Ich fress nen Hut" the old meaning "eat" seems to be conserved. I do not feel that it means eating as animals do.


_Fress'_ is a form of _fresse_ where "e" is omitted. So it requires usually a ' (apostrophe) sign to indicate that it is omitted. In poetry and in some other texts it is often not written.


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## sakvaka

sakvaka said:


> Hmm.. 436 hits on Google for _syön hattuni_ and 447 hits for _syön hatullisen paskaa_. I've never heard of the latter one, but - yes, why not.



Quoting myself again... 

I have probably learned the first idiom by reading Donald Duck. When defeated by Scrooge, John D. Rockerduck often eats his hat. (I wonder if it's cleaned up from the original saying which is too coarse for comic books )


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## Mahaodeh

In Arabic the two common terms are: "I'll cut off my arm" or "I'll shave my mousache".


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## swift

Hello Encolpius,

This is an interesting discussion. 


Encolpius said:


> I wonder which languages use the same idiom or another (ridiculous) one. Thanks.



In Spanish, word by word: me comeré mi sombrero si... Though I think "me como el sombrero" would sound a little more natural.

But if you are looking for a ridiculous idiom, here is one that may astonish you: _Me corto las orejas si..._ (I'll cut my ears if...). And for more expressiveness: _Me corto las tetas si..._ (I'll cut my breast if...; very offensive, used by really uncouth women), _Me corto los huevos si... _(I'll cut my balls if...; very offensive, used by vulgar men).

Regards,


swift


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## Deidelia.

En español (y creo que en cualquier idioma) tratándo de establecer una ironía para este contexto, uno se podría comer _'cualquier cosa'._

_- Me como mis lentes si..._
_- Me como mi bastón si..._
_- Me como mis zapatos si..._
_- Me como (lo mas raro que en ese momento tenga a mano) si..._
_- etc._


*D*


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## Encolpius

Hutschi said:


> German:
> Ich fress 'nen Hut. (This is the version used mostly. I eat a hat)
> Ich fress' meinen Hut. (This is an almost literal version. I feel it is used often, too.)
> Ich ess 'nen Hut.



Interesting, I have just found dictionaries say: Ich fress' 'nen Besen, wenn... (I'd eat a broom...)

And how about the Czech: Ať jsem papež, jestli... [may I be Pope..] but I think we have something similar in Hungarian but with a slightly different usage, too... Kutya legyek, ha [may I be a dog]....


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## Hutschi

You are right. Here in my area I'd shorten it further.


> Ich fress'n Besen.



Wikipedia gives http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_deutscher_Redewendungen



> Da fress ich einen *Besen* (often together with: samt der Putzfrau)



Another one I know is

"Ich geh am Stock!"


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## Encolpius

Thanks, Hutschi, for its confirmation!


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## ilocas2

Serbian:

*poješću svoj šešir* - I'll eat my hat


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## Messquito

In Chinese, I've seen 我把頭給你 (I'll give you my head).
But I'm more familiar with this one:
除非太陽從西邊升起(Unless the sun rose in the west.)


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## ninecats

In Turkish, Dişimi kırarım/kıracağım. Diş=tooth Kır-mak=to break. Bir kez olsun özür dilese dişimi kırarım. If he apologizes for once I will break my tooth (lit). It means he has never apologized for what he has done. That's why it would be suprising If he apologized (even for once). It's used for what won't come true. Like people expect someone to do something but he probably won't do what is expected from him.


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## eno2

Dutch speakers don't eat hats, when they're absolutely sure about something, they bet their heads on it.


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## 810senior

Guess that in Japanese we don't have any idiom or something exactly corresponding to _eat one's hat_ in English. I checked some dictionaries out and found some referred to 首をやる(_give one's neck_) for this sense, but for sure I have never heard of it or even used it in practice. 
Instead I'd just say ~はずがない(it is not possible for someone to do) or なんてありえない(it is impossible for something like that) if it comes to that.




Messquito said:


> But I'm more familiar with this one:
> 除非太陽從西邊升起(Unless the sun rose in the west.)



That idiom makes sense in Japanese too, even though it is used much less frequently than Chinese.


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## Armas

Finnish: _Panen pääni pantiksi_ "I'll pawn my head".


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## Red Arrow

eno2 said:


> Dutch speakers don't eat hats, when they're absolutely sure about something, they bet their heads on it.


Never heard of "Als ... dan eet ik m'n hoed/schoen op"?   (If ... then I'll eat my hat/shoe)


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## eno2

Never say never but very few times. "dan eet ik mijn hoed op " gets 96 clicked result in Google. "dan eet ik mijn schoen op " gets 90. 
So it's not totally "non existent".


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## Penyafort

A literal translation in *Catalan *would be _Em menjaré el barret si..._, but it is not used at all or might be understood as a literal bet.

A funny more colloquial Catalan expression with the same meaning would be:

_Si ..., me la tallo i em faig monja. - _If (X happens), I'll cut my thing and become a nun.​


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## bibax

Encolpius said:


> And how about the Czech: Ať jsem papež, jestli... [_may I be (let me be) Pope..._]


It is not the same, you must promise to do something very unpleasant.

To eat a hat is impracticable, so we also promise that we'll eat a *beetle* (brouk) or *earthworm* (žížala). We are expected that we'll keep the promise.

In 1998, the chairman of the Pensioners Party, made a pre-election promise. At the country's general election, he said, on national television, that *he would eat a beetle if his party did not win* seats in parliament. His party finished with only three per cent so, he carried out his promise. "The bug was crawling across the plate, so I bit its head off, and when the yellow jelly came out, I gobbled it and washed it down with Fernet," he said afterwards. (For the video, google _"Kremlička žere brouka"_).


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## Red Arrow

eno2 said:


> Never say never but very few times. "dan eet ik mijn hoed op " gets 96 clicked result in Google. "dan eet ik mijn schoen op " gets 90.
> So it's not totally "non existent".


Well, it's not the kind of idiom someone would write down in a text.


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## Chaboue

DearPrudence said:


> Apparently, the French expression is simply a literal translation of the English one.
> So, we also say:
> *"Je mange mon chapeau si...".
> "Je veux bien manger mon chapeau si..."*


I'm French and I've never heard those expressions before 
I'd say _j'en mettrais ma main à couper_ which litteraly means _I could cut my hand_


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## Pugnator

In Italian this idiom exist too. Here a fun fact: In Italian Disney comics often Rockerduck does bets and competition with Scrooge Mcduck and as penalty he has to eat his bowler hat.(In the rare case when Scrooge Mcduck loses he is forced to eat his top hat), all started with this idiom.


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