# All Slavic languages: not to understand at all



## Encolpius

Hello, what interesting, funny idiom / simile do you use in your language for people who does not understand something at all. The Czech example can help you. 

*Czech*: rozumí tomu jako koza petrželi [he understands it like the goat the parsley]

*Russian*: он разбирается в ней как свинья в апельсинах [...like the swine the orange]

Thanks.


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## vianie

Hello Encolpius, one example from *Slovak*​ - _Rozumieť niečomu ako hus pivu_ - To understand something like the goose the beer.


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## Azori

vianie said:


> Hello Encolpius, one example from *Slovak*​ - _Rozumieť niečomu ako hus pivu_ - To understand something like the goose the beer.


Or alternatively: _rozumieť sa do niečoho ako hus do piva_ (~ to be as knowledgeable/well versed in something as a goose is in beer)

Another one: _španielska dedina_ (Spanish village), as in e.g. _"je to preňho španielska dedina"_ (_lit._ it's a Spanish village for him = he doesn't understand it at all/it's all Greek to him)


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## jasio

In *Polish*:

"To dla niego chińszczyzna" - 'it's chinese stuff for him'
"Znać się na czymś jak kura na pieprzu" - 'to know something like a hen knows pepper'


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## oveka

Ukrainian:
Тямиш, як Хома на вовні   wool 
Тямиш, як свиня в дощ   rain
Тямиш, як свиня в апельсинах   orange
Знається свиня на перці   pepper


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## Irbis

In Slovenian:
to mu je španska vas (it's a Spanish village for him)
na to se spozna kot zajec na boben (he versed in it like a rabbit (hare) about a drum)


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## marco_2

jasio said:


> In *Polish*:
> 
> "To dla niego chińszczyzna" - 'it's chinese stuff for him'
> "Znać się na czymś jak kura na pieprzu" - 'to know something like a hen knows pepper'



I also heard *znać się (na czymś) jak świnia na gwiazdach *(= to know sth like a pig knows stars)


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## Thomas1

Nie rozumieć czegoś ni w ząb. -- _literally_: Not understand something not in a tooth.

EDIT: 


jasio said:


> In *Polish*:
> 
> [...]
> "Znać się na czymś jak kura na pieprzu" - 'to know something like a hen knows pepper'





marco_2 said:


> I also heard *znać się (na czymś) jak świnia na gwiazdach *(=  to know sth like a pig knows stars)


It's worth it to mention  that the core concept of these expressions is "knowing something" rather  than "understanding something". They both may overlap, and they often  do, but they are different in essence.


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## marco_2

Describing a particular event we also say: *Siedział jak na tureckim kazaniu.* (= He was sitting like at a Turkish sermon - so it was all Greek to him ).


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## bigic

The "Spanish village" (špansko selo/шпанско село) idiom is also present in Serbian.


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## Vanja

bigic said:


> The "Spanish village" (špansko selo/шпанско село) idiom is also present in Serbian.


And for knowing nothing is and/or when understand nothing is:
_Zna kao moja baba Windows_ - He/She knows it like my grandma knows (of) Windows.


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## swintok

This isn't quite the same thing, but I heard a wonderful phrase in Ukrainian about someone who has a look of complete incomprehension on his face:

Дивиться, як теля на нову хвіртку (фіртку in the original dialect).
He's looking (_at me_) like a calf at a new gate.


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## vianie

swintok said:


> This isn't quite the same thing, but I heard a wonderful phrase in Ukrainian about someone who has a look of complete incomprehension on his face:
> 
> Дивиться, як теля на нову хвіртку (фіртку in the original dialect).
> He's looking (_at me_) like a calf at a new gate.



_pozerať ako teľa_ ~ look like a dimwit
_pozerať ako teľa na nové vráta_ ~ stare agape (at)

_pozerať _is usually expressed by other words like _čumieť_ or _kukať_


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## jasio

swintok said:


> This isn't quite the same thing, but I heard a wonderful phrase in Ukrainian about someone who has a look of complete incomprehension on his face:
> 
> Дивиться, як теля на нову хвіртку (фіртку in the original dialect).
> He's looking (_at me_) like a calf at a new gate.



Isn't it a Western dialect by any chance? In Polish there is a similar word ("furtka"), but it means 'a wicket'. 

There is also a quite similar comparison in Polish, except that the gate is rather big and rather painted than new: "Gapi się, jak cielę/wół, na malowane wrota" ('is gaping like a calf/ox at a painted gateway'). 

We can also say "jak sroka w gnat" ('like a magpie at a bone') or ("szpak w karabin") 'starling into a rifle', the latter also having a rather rude variant of what the starling can look into.

I've also come across something completely different, namely about having eyes looking for wisdom ("mieć oczy poszukujące rozumu"). Apparently more for a situation when someone looks foolishly around instead of gaping at a single spot.


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## thegreathoo

swintok said:


> This isn't quite the same thing, but I heard a wonderful phrase in Ukrainian about someone who has a look of complete incomprehension on his face:
> 
> Дивиться, як теля на нову хвіртку (фіртку in the original dialect).
> He's looking (_at me_) like a calf at a new gate.



We have that too.  It refers to an empty stare, but it's related to being clueless.
Gleda (blene, bulji) ko tele (krava) u šarena vrata.  (Stares like a calf (cow) at spotted (colorful) doors.)


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## ilocas2

It seems that idiom "Spanish village" exists only in ex-Czechoslovakia and ex-Yugoslavia in the whole world.


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## Sobakus

...while the gates simile is quite ubiquitous in Slavic. Here it is in Russian:
<смотр*е*ть, гляд*е*ть, уст*а*виться...>, как бар*а*н на н*о*вые вор*о*та = <to stare> like a ram at a new gate, often used as a question.


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## Enquiring Mind

The one I hear frequently in Czech is "je z toho jelen" (literally: he's a deer from it) - he doesn't understand it at all.


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## M_L_P

swintok said:


> This isn't quite the same thing, but I heard a wonderful phrase in Ukrainian about someone who has a look of complete incomprehension on his face:
> 
> Дивиться, як теля на нову хвіртку (фіртку in the original dialect).
> He's looking (_at me_) like a calf at a new gate.



This one is present in Slovene as well:
_gledati kot tele v nova vrata_


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