Einen Kater haben
Meaning: To have a hangover.
Language: German
Literally: To have a tomcat
Category: Animals
Origin: 'Kater' puns on the medical 'Katarrh' (catarrh); students reshaped the morning-after misery into a tomcat.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Avoir la gueule de bois — literally: To have a wooden snout
More idioms — Animals
- Buscarle tres pies al gato — To overcomplicate things; to look for trouble.
- Non sapere che pesci pigliare — To be at a complete loss what to do.
- Acertar na mosca — To be exactly right; to hit the bullseye.
- Dar com os burros n'água — To fail despite all your effort.
- Считать ворон (Schitat' voron) — To idle and let chances slip by.
- 月とすっぽん (Tsuki to suppon) — Two things alike at a glance but worlds apart.
More German idioms
- 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.
- vor den Kopf stoßen — To offend or affront someone.
- sich die Hörner abstoßen — To shed youthful recklessness and settle into maturity.