Koeitjies en kalfies
Meaning: Idle small talk.
Language: Afrikaans
Literally: Little cows and calves
Category: Animals
Origin: Chatting about trifling rural matters — the cattle and their young — stands for casual, easy gossip.
Equivalents in other languages
- English: To chew the fat — literally: To chew the fat
- Turkish: Havadan sudan konuşmak — literally: To talk of weather and water
More idioms — Animals
- Bobbejaan agter die bult — To worry about troubles that may never come.
- Мува без главе (Muva bez glave) — To rush about chaotically and without direction.
- Гладна мечка хоро не играе (Gladna mechka horo ne igrae) — Nothing gets done on an empty stomach.
- Iti rakom žvižgat — To go to ruin; to fall apart.
- Vilką minim, vilkas čia — Speak of the devil.
- Pūst pīlītes — To tell tall tales; to fib.
More Afrikaans idioms
- So skaars soos hoendertande — Extremely rare; almost non-existent.
- 'n Halwe eier is beter as 'n leë dop — Half a loaf is better than none.
- Nou is die gort gaar — Now we're really in trouble.
- Jakkals trou met wolf se vrou — A sunshower — rain while the sun shines.
- Hy is van sy trollie af — He has lost his mind.
From our untranslatable words
- Schadenfreude — The guilty little pleasure of taking satisfaction in someone else's misfortune.
- Wabi-sabi — Finding beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and the worn or incomplete.
- Tsundoku — Buying books and letting them pile up unread — a habit, not a crime.