горе луковое (gore lukovoye)
Meaning: A person who is accident-prone, hapless, or bumbling; one who causes trouble by their own incompetence.
Language: Russian
Literally: onion grief
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: Origin uncertain; the image may evoke the tears that onions provoke, linking them to misfortune, or it may simply be a nonsensical pairing chosen for comic effect.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- развесистая клюква (razvestistaya klyukva) — Ignorant stereotypes and tall tales about Russia, especially those peddled by foreigners.
- молоко на губах не обсохло (moloko na gubakh ne obsokhlo) — a very young or inexperienced person; someone barely past infancy.
- C'est pas tes oignons — That's none of your business.
- C'est la fin des haricots — It's all over; there's no hope left.
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
More Russian idioms
- огород городить (ogorod gorodit') — To make a fuss or create complicated problems over something trivial; to engage in useles…
- на честном слове и на одном крыле (na chestnom slove i na odnom kryle) — Succeeding or surviving by the barest margin, through luck or desperation rather than sol…
- сыграть в ящик (sygrat' v yashchik) — To die.
- нашего полку прибыло (nashego polku pribylo) — Another person has joined a group or shared predicament; a welcome to the club.
- на славу (na slavu) — Excellently; very well; in a first-rate manner.
- ври больше (vri bolshe) — An expression of dismissive disbelief; an ironical way of saying someone's story is uncon…
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