packed like sardines

Meaning: Crowded very tightly together.

Language: English

Literally: (Already vivid in English)

Example: “We were packed like sardines on the last bus home.”

Category: Food & Drink

Origin: Sardines are pressed side by side into a flat tin with no space at all. The comparison is recorded from the 19th century.

Equivalents in other languages

Russian: Как сельдь в бочке (Kak sel'd' v bochke) — literally: Like herrings in a barrel

cherry-pick — To choose only the best or most convenient items.
on a silver platter — Given to someone without any effort on their part.
like two peas in a pod — Very similar in looks or character.
cool as a cucumber — Very calm, especially under pressure.
too many cooks spoil the broth — When too many people work on something, the result is worse.
toss one's cookies — To vomit.

give someone the runaround — To put someone off with excuses instead of a straight answer.
pin the blame on someone — To make someone take responsibility for a fault, often unfairly.
let the grass grow under one's feet — To waste time and miss opportunities.
go through fire and water — To face any danger or hardship for someone or something.
a closed book — Something one knows nothing about, or someone impossible to understand.
up to one's ears in debt — Deeply in debt.

Red lorry, yellow lorry. — The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? — A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. — Believed by Guinness to be among the hardest in English — 'six/sick/sheikh/sheep' blur in…