“A drop in the bucket”in other languages
An amount far too small to make a difference.
English
Hindi
Japanese
Russian
Same idea, different pictures
English drops a single drop into a bucket. The others pick something tiny and set it beside something huge: a cumin seed in a camel's mouth in Hindi, ऊँट के मुँह में जीरा.
Japanese and Russian measure in tears: a sparrow's tears, suzume no namida, and as much as the cat wept, кот наплакал. Cats don't cry, so that's next to nothing.
More sayings in other languages
- Drunk as a skunk
- Lead someone up the garden path
- Eat humble pie
- Have egg on your face
- Fall for it hook, line, and sinker
- Fall on deaf ears
- Firing on all cylinders
- Flat broke
- Flat out