# sell like hot cakes



## Encolpius

Hello, how would you translate the idiom sell like hot cakes into your language? Do you use any comparison? Thanks. 

*Hungarian: viszik, mint a cukrot [literally: sell like sugar]*


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## hui

*Finnish:*

1)* myy kuin häkä *[= sells like *carbon monoxide**)]
2)* kauppa käy kuin siimaa* [= sales go like *fishline* (i.e., non-stop)]

The reasoning behind #1? I guess it has morphed from _"se upposi kansaan kuin häkä"_ = "it hit people like CO" = people did not notice and could not resist becoming intoxicated, and therefore welcomed whatever was said or offered.

*) actually, *häkä* is CO + air ; in technical Finnish: carbon monoxide = hiilimonoksidi


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: vender como/que nem água (to sell like water).


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## hollabooiers

*Estonian:* _Lähe__vad (kaubaks) nagu soojad saiad_. (They go (for sale) like warm rolls.)


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## enoo

*French*: Ça se vend comme des petits pains. - It sells like bread rolls. (lit. small breads)


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## ilocas2

CZ:

Jde na dračku (goes on dračka), the word dračka doesn't exist outside this idiom


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: продава се като топъл хляб: sells like hot bread.


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## Rallino

*Turkish*: Peynir ekmek gibi gidiyor - [ goes like cheese, bread]


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## Encolpius

Rallino said:


> *Turkish*: Peynir ekmek gibi gidiyor - [ goes like cheese, bread]



Hello, I can't understand peynir ekmek. Is it a bread and cheese or you can say goes like cheese, goes like bread? Thanks.


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## Encolpius

Really very interesting comments. I checked the *Slovak *dictionary and it says: _*predáva sa ako teplé rožky*_ [like hot bread rolls]


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## Rallino

Encolpius said:


> Hello, I can't understand peynir ekmek. Is it a bread and cheese or you can say goes like cheese, goes like bread? Thanks.



it is: goes like _bread and cheese_


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## ThomasK

*Verkopen als warme broodjes* [like hot rolls], seems standard, but probably to our Flemish sweet tooth (Belgian chocolate), we say: *als zoete broodjes* [sweet rolls]...


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## Elvus

In Polish:
*Sprzedaje się jak świeże bułeczki. *- _It sells like fresh tiny bread rolls.
_Sometimes people might also say of something that _it goes like water *- *_*Idzie jak woda. *The latter is used rather in past tense while speaking of some goods which had been quickly sold out and now we have only empty shelves left.


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## Encolpius

Thanks, you can see the fresh bread and rolls have won. Hungarians and Flemish prefer sweet.  But other examples are still welcome.


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## merquiades

Spanish:   se vende como churros
Am Eng:   it sells like pancakes


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
«Πουλάει σαν τρελ(λ)ός, -ή, -ό» (sometimes the second lambda is omitted)
pu'lai san tre'los _m._/tre'li _f._/tre'lo _n._
lit. "s/he/it sells/is selling like crazy" (don't really know why we use this expression!)
e.g "this toy is selling/sells like crazy!"; "this new gadget is selling/sells like crazy!"


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## sakvaka

hui said:


> *Finnish:* ...



Also: _~ menevät kuin kuumille kiville._ "as if [they] went on hot stones."


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## ThomasK

But do you think there is a link, Sakvaka ?


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## sakvaka

According to the English Wiktionary, it's a reference to the hot sauna stones where the thrown water evaporates quickly.


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## ThomasK

Is the full expression: "They sold as if they went on hot stones"? I am sure, I don't seem to  understand...


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## sakvaka

Actually a literal translation would be _they go like on hot stones_, but I wasn't sure if you could use that phrasing in English.


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## hui

sakvaka said:


> Actually a literal translation would be _they go like on hot stones_, but I wasn't sure if you could use that phrasing in English.



A non-literal translation:
_They are gone as fast as water on sizzling hot stones.

_


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## ThomasK

Well, that is what I call a truly Finnish metaphor ! ;-) You are unique !


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## tangus

merquiades said:


> Spanish:   se vende como churros



Never heard that. Instead: _Se vende como pan caliente_  (hot bread)

Saludos.


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## vandaman

In Macedonian Се продава како алва-/alva/-sells like helva
helva is a turkish loanword (basically Arabic) for popular sweet made of tahini (sesame paste)


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## HUMBERT0

tangus said:


> Never heard that. Instead: _Se vende como pan caliente_ (hot bread)
> 
> Saludos.


In my country we also say "Se vende como pan caliente".


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## Artidee

In Danish: *Gå som varmt brød*

Translates to _"Go/sell like warm bread"_


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## Encolpius

HUMBERT0 said:


> In my country we also say "Se vende como pan caliente".



Hi, feel free to open a new thread in Spanish only.


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## Encolpius

I found this in the dictionary: 

*German *- weggehen / sich verkaufen wie wie warme Semmeln or geschnitten Brot
and in Switzerland: wie frische Weggli 

And the *Russian *idiom is similar to the Czech one: идет на расхват


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## TheCrociato91

The closest *Italian *phrase I can think of is: "andare a ruba" (literally: _be stolen_*). The WR Italian-English dictionary also suggests: "andare via come il pane" (literally: _go away like bread_), but I've personally never heard it.


* The underlying metaphor being: something is sold so quickly and in such large quantities that it hardly remains available on the market, so that one must resort to _stealing _in order to get a single one of the things being sold.


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## KalAlbè

merquiades said:


> Am Eng:   it sells like pancakes


.
I've never heard this version. I'm familiar with _to sell like hotcakes_


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## alfaalfa

Ciao,


TheCrociato91 said:


> "andare via come il pane" (literally: _go away like bread_), but I've personally never heard it.


really?
_Si vende come il pane _*It sells like bread *_(_or_ va via come il pane_ *it goes away like bread*_) _ is the first thing that comes to my mind.
But we actually live so far, far away


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