# The middle of nowhere



## Outsider

faranji said:


> En España, cuando algo está muy lejos, se exagera diciendo que está 'en el quinto pino', o 'en el quinto infierno', o 'donde Cristo perdió la gorra'. Sé que los ecuatorianos dicen 'donde Cristo perdió el poncho'. Y una vez oí una buenísima: 'Donde el viento da la vuelta'.


This got me curious. What phrases are there in other languages for out-of-the-way, backward, uninteresting places?

Thank you in advance for your replies.


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## Jana337

Czech: Kde lišky dávají dobrou noc - where foxes say goodnight.


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish: Cehennemin dibi - far end of hell
*Official dictionary has another suggestion: *cehennemin bucağı*, which I've almost never heard.


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## Lillita

Hungarian:

_*A semmi közepe.*_ -- The middle of nowhere.
_*Isten háta mögötti hely.*_ -- A place behind God's back.


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## ameana7

Chazzwozzer said:


> *Turkish: Cehennemin dibi - far end of hell
> *Official dictionary has another suggestion: *cehennemin bucağı*, which I've almost never heard.



Also we say "Allah'ın unuttuğu yer" which means literally "the place which God has forgotten."
I like the most the Czech version "where the foxes say goodnight".

Dear Outsider, what does it mean exactly "Donde el viento de la vuelta" in English, something like "from the wind of turn back"?


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## Outsider

ameana7 said:


> Dear Outsider, what does it mean exactly "Donde el viento de la vuelta" in English, something like "from the wind of turn back"?


"Where the wind turns around" or, perhaps more expressively, "where the wind turns back".


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## Kraus

In *Italian*: 

A casa del diavolo.


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## spakh

In Turkish we use 'tilkinin bakır sıçtığı yer' meaning a place where fox shits copper. But it has not a quite polite meaning.


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## Outsider

There's a rather crude one in Portuguese, too: _o cu de Judas_, meaning "Judas' ass".


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## Thomas1

Outsider said:


> There's a rather crude one in Portuguese, too: _o cu de Judas_, meaning "Judas' ass".


We have something similar in Polish too:
_tam gdzie psy dupami szczekają_
there where the dogs bark with their asses

I can't think of anything normal at the moment. 

Tom


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## gao_yixing

In Chinese, maybe 鸟不拉屎的地方, which means where birds won't shit.


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## Lillita

Another one in Hungarian:

_*Amerre még a madár sem jár.*_ -- Not even the birds fly that way.

P.S. It came to my mind after reading gao_yixing's post.


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## susanb

*Catalan*:

Allà on sant Pere va perdre l'esperdenya (where saint Peter lost his "esperdenya" Kind of shoe)
A la quinta forca
A la quinta punyeta
A l'altra part de món (the other side of the world)
Qui sap on (who knows where)


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## Athaulf

Outsider said:


> This got me curious. What phrases are there in other languages for out-of-the-way, backward, uninteresting places?
> 
> Thank you in advance for your replies.



In Croatian, my absolute favorite is _vukojebina_, which would translate as _wolves' f**king ground_ (in the sense of a place that wolves use for mating). 

We also have many other colorful expressions:

_usred ničega_ = _in the middle of nowhere_
_ pripizdina = _(approx.) _place right next to a c*nt 
__Bogu iza leđa_ = _behind God's back
gdje je Bog rekao laku noć = where [even] God bid good night
__selendra = _a pejorative form of _selo_ (village)
_gdje je vuk domaća životinja_ = _where wolf is a domestic animal_


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## Frank06

Hi,


Outsider said:


> This got me curious. What phrases are there in other languages for out-of-the-way, backward, uninteresting places?


In *Dutch* it can be:
- een godvergeten uithoek (a place (corner) forgotten by god)
- een godverlaten oord (a place left by god)
- een gat, een boerengat (gat = hole)

Groetjes,

Frank


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## sabrinita85

In *Italian*:

*In braccio alle stelle


*


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## panjabigator

I have heard several in English (and I believe this first one may be a bit offensive...I don't use it)

Butt-fucking Egypt (also known as BFE).


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## DrLindenbrock

ameana7 said:


> Also we say "Allah'ın unuttuğu yer" which means literally "the place which God has forgotten."


 
In Italian we have a similar one:
_un posto dimenticato da Dio e dagli uomini_ / a place forgotten by both God and mankind

Or I guess even without the last part... : _un posto dimenticato da Dio_

Other ones that come to my mind are:
_in mezzo al nulla_ (very simple and literal)
_una landa desolata_ (a deserted barren plain [with nothing and nobody around])


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## jester.

In German, you're likely to hear: "Am Arsch der Welt" which means "at the world's ass"


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## amikama

Hebrew:

*באמצע שומקום* (in the middle of nowhere)
*סוף העולם שמאלה* (to the left of the end of the world)
*שכוח אל* (forgotten by God)
*חור* (hole)


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## Crescent

I believe that whilst there is not set expression to translate this into Russian directly, there are several ways of expressing this: 
e.g._ Глухомань_ - literally meaning wilderness, or ''god-forsaken place''.
It's mostly a colloquail term which would probably be used when you go somewhere on holiday with your family in the car, and then you totally loose your way, and someone comes out with: _Боже, в какую глухомань мы забрели!_  (~ Dear God, looks like we're in the middle of nowhere!)


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

Oh well, my fellow countrypeople are very creative in that respect. We have:

-* En el quinto carrizo*. Carrizo --> euphemism for "car*jo" (there's no translation for that). The whole sentence means something like "in the fifth piece of trash" (avoiding stronger words)

- *En la quinta paila (del infierno)* => In the fifth boiling pan of hell (what is it we have with the _fifth_?)

- *En una tierra olvidada de Dios* => In a God-forsaken land.

- *En quién-sabe-dónde* => In who-knows-where.

- *En "Dios sabe dónde"* => In "Only God knows where".

- *Donde Cristo perdió las alpargatas* => Where the Christ forgot his sandals.

- *Donde el Diablo dejó/botó/perdió los calzoncillos* => Where the Devil lost his underwear.

And, my personal favorite:
- *Donde llueve pa' rriba* => Where it rains upwards  

This last one is more common as for an unspecified term of time, e.g. "when will you propose marriage to me, darling?" and the 'darling' says "when it rains upwards..." 

Oh, I forgot: "vaya usted a saber dónde", which is sort of 'familiar' Spanish, but I just can't translate it.

Perhaps like: "you tell ME where", or "without a clue about where"...


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## Ilmo

*Finnish:*
There is an old saying that something is "on another side of Timbuktu", "más allá de Timbuktú". I guess that the saying has an international background, because my dictionaries mention it as folllows:
s. Timbuktú, ciudad en Mali; (Jerga) lugar remoto, lugar muy alejado (Figurativo) 
*Timbuktu* pueblo de África Occidental en Mali - cualquier lugar lejano
*Timbuktu* n. city in Mali; (Slang) remote place, somewhere far away, extremely remote place (Figuratively)

Another way to express this is "as far away where the pepper grows".


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## Outsider

Venezuelan_sweetie said:


> - *Donde el Diablo dejó/botó/perdió los calzoncillos* => Where the Devil lost his underwear.


¡Es muy graciosa, esa!


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

Venezuelan_sweetie said:


> - *Donde el Diablo dejó/botó/perdió los calzoncillos* => Where the Devil lost his underwear.





Outsider said:


> ¡Es muy graciosa, esa!


 
Lo es! 

We also have:
- *Donde se hace la tinta china* => Where Chinese ink is made (???)
- *Donde el sol sale pa' bajo* => Where the sun raises down ) )

And I know I'm forgetting some really funny ones, but I just can't come up with them!

I can't believe, just simply can't believe I was forgetting the most commonly used one: "en el fin del mundo" => in the end of the world.

My grannie used to say "donde se perdió Jaimito" => something like "where little Johnny got lost"


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## Cleo-Mi

In Romanian there are a lot of phrases that express a far place:
- in mijlocul singuratatii – in the middle of loneliness
- peste (7/9) mari si (7/9) tari; peste 7/9 munti si 7/9 vai – over (7/9) seas and (7/9) countries; over (7/9) mountains and (7/9) valleys 
- unde cazi de pe harta – where you fall off the map
- unde se agata harta in cui – where you hang the map
- unde soarele nu straluceste niciodata – where the sun never shines
- cine stie unde – who knows where
There are several phrases that are related to the Devil:
- la naiba/Dracu’ in praznic – at the Devil’s wake; now that I translate it, is sounds more like “never” (as who has ever seen the devil dead????), but it actually means in the middle of nowhere)
- unde si-a intarcat Dracul copiii – where the Devil stopped breast feeding his kids 
- la mama naibii – at the Devil’s mother 
This is what I remember now.


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## Maja

These are the same in Serbian:


Athaulf said:


> *vukojebina* = _wolves' f**king ground_ (in the sense of a place that wolves use for mating).
> *Bogu iza leđa* = _behind God's back
> * gdje je Bog rekao laku noć* = where [even] God bid good night
> __*selendra* = _a pejorative form of _selo_ (village)
> *gdje je vuk domaća životinja* = _where wolf is a domestic animal_


also:
Bogu iza kičme /tregera = behind God's spine /suspenders


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## Marga H

In Polish:
( some of them are similar to already mentioned )

*Bóg wie gdzie *- God knows where
*Miejsce zapomniane przez Boga i ludzi *- the place forgotten by God and people
*Na końcu świata - *at the end of the world
*Gdzie diabeł mówi dobranoc *- where the devil says good night

We also use *Gdzie pieprz rośnie -* where the pepper grows - but in context : Uciekać tam, gdzie pieprz rośnie. - Run away where the pepper grows.


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## divinelight

Chazzwozzer said:


> *Turkish: Cehennemin dibi - far end of hell*
> Official dictionary has another suggestion: *cehennemin bucağı*, which I've almost never heard.


 
In Turkish, you could also say "kuş uçmaz kervan geçmez" which literally means "no bird would fly over and no caravan would cross that place"


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## zaby

In French :

*Au milieu de nulle part* : in the middle of nowhere 
*Dieu sait où* : God knows where
 *Dans le trou du cul du monde* : in the world's asshole


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## skatoulitsa

In greek we say

Στη μέση του πουθενά: in the middle of nowhere
Στου διαόλου τη μάνα: at the devil's mom
Στου διαόλου το κέρατο: at the devil's horn


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## ger4

In German we can say:

- _Wo sich Fuchs und Hase gute Nacht sagen_
- lit. 'where fox and hare say good-night to each other'

- _am Ende der Welt_
- lit. 'at the end of the world'

... but nothing beats this expression, of course: 


jester. said:


> In German, you're likely to hear: "Am Arsch der Welt" which means "at the world's ass"


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## bibax

Czech:

prdel světa = the world's ass;

kde lišky dávají dobrou noc = where foxen say good-night;

Bohem [a lidmi] zapomenutý kraj = a land forgotten by God [and people];


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## swintok

In Ukrainian one phrase is "де дідько каже добраніч (where the devil says "good night")."


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## Gavril

Welsh _ymhell o bobman_ ("far away from anyplace"), _ym mhen draw'r byd_ ("at the end beyond the world")

Icelandic _úti í auðninni_ ("out in the wasteland/wilderness"), _á hjara veraldar_ ("at the end(s) of the earth", "in the far north")


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