IdiomFood & Drink
German
GermanDas ist nicht das Gelbe vom Ei
Meaning: It's not ideal; not quite good enough.
Literally: That's not the yellow of the egg
Example: “Das Hotel war sauber, aber nicht das Gelbe vom Ei.” — The hotel was clean but nothing to write home about.
English equivalent: Nothing to write home about
Origin: The yolk (das Gelbe, the yellow) has always been thought the most valuable part of an egg, so something that is "not the yolk of the egg" is not the best, just second-rate. Redensarten-Index finds the phrase only from the 1960s, with a first written example from 1966, and it is almost always used in the negative.
Equivalents in other languages
French: Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard Literally: It doesn't break three legs of a duck
Dutch: niet veel soeps Literally: Not much soup
English: nothing to write home about- French: Ce n'est pas le Pérou Literally: It's not Peru
More German idioms
- Aus dem Häuschen sein To be beside yourself with excitement.
- Einen Kater haben To have a hangover.
- die Nase voll haben To be fed up or exhausted by something.
- Dampf ablassen To release pent-up emotion or frustration.
- Salz in die Wunde streuen To deliberately make someone's pain or humiliation worse.
- die Suppe versalzen To ruin a plan or situation through careless excess.
Explore another collection: Untranslatable Words
Words that capture a feeling or idea English needs a whole sentence for.
- Schadenfreude The guilty little pleasure of taking satisfaction in someone else's misfortune.
- Fernweh An aching longing for far-off places you've never been — the opposite of homesickness.
- Weltschmerz The weariness and sadness you feel when the world as it is falls painfully short of the w…
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