“All hands on deck”in other languages
Everyone is needed to help, right now.
English
French
Japanese
Same idea, different pictures
Two languages call up a crew or an army. English is a ship's order: every sailor, every “hand”, up on deck. French branle-bas de combat is also naval: the branles were the sailors' hammocks, taken down all at once to clear the deck for battle. French can also convoquer le ban et l'arrière-ban, summoning every vassal and every vassal's vassal, as a medieval king did for war.
Japanese shows how busy things are instead: neko no te mo karitai, I'd even borrow the cat's paws.
More sayings in other languages
- An uphill battle
- Ants in one's pants
- The apple of one's eye
- At cross purposes
- At full tilt
- At the top of one's lungs
- Avoid like the plague
- Bail someone out
- Bang one's head against a brick wall