IdiomAnimals
Romanian
RomanianA face din țânțar armăsar
Meaning: To exaggerate something enormously.
Literally: To make a stallion out of a mosquito
Example: “E doar o zgârietură, nu face din țânțar armăsar.” — It's just a scratch; don't make a mountain out of a molehill.
English equivalent: To make a mountain out of a molehill
Origin: Țânțar (mosquito) and armăsar (stallion) rhyme, and making a stallion out of a mosquito is blowing something tiny out of all proportion. Czech and Turkish make a camel out of a mosquito or a flea in the same way.
Equivalents in other languages
French: En faire tout un fromage Literally: To make a whole cheese out of it
Russian: Делать из мухи слона (Delat' iz mukhi slona) Literally: To make an elephant out of a fly- French: Faire d'une mouche un éléphant Literally: To make an elephant out of a fly
Arabic: يعمل من الحبة قبة (Ya'mal min al-ḥabba qubba) Literally: To build a dome out of a seed
Czech: Dělat z komára velblouda Literally: To make a camel out of a mosquito
Turkish: Pireyi deve yapmak Literally: To make a camel out of a flea
Spanish: ahogarse en poca agua Literally: To drown in little water
English: make a mountain out of a molehill- French: Se noyer dans un verre d'eau Literally: To drown in a glass of water
More Romanian idioms
- A umbla cu cioara vopsită To try to deceive people with falsehoods.
- A se face luntre și punte To do absolutely everything to help.
- A freca menta To waste time; to loaf around doing nothing useful.
- A-i pica fisa To finally understand something.
- A se uita ca pisica în calendar To stare blankly, understanding nothing.
- A tăia frunză la câini To do pointless work; to idle away the day.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie i Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie. The opening of a poem by Julian Tuwim, now Poland's most-quoted tongue twister — the cons…
- Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami. Six words, almost no vowels — a single noun phrase that non-Polish speakers find impossib…
- 四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十。(Sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shísì shì shísì, sìshí shì sìshí.) A pure sì/shí tone drill — the two numbers are near-identical and the tones swap each tim…
Keep exploring