For no reason at all, please give me your favourite cow-related figures of speech!

[jhv@triangletoot.party]

@sundogplanets
I had a boss once time who, on getting an unsolicited suggestion from an employee, said "Who's fucking this cow‽"

[santiago@mastodon.uy]

@sundogplanets in spanish we say "el que se quema con leche, ve la vaca y llora"... which would be something along this "He who gets burned by milk, sees the cow and cries"

[revpuddudley@mas.to]

@sundogplanets "take the bull by the tail & face the situation"

[mzedp@plasmatrap.com]

@peaoPerdido@datasci.social @sundogplanets@mastodon.social "vacas flacas" is also used in Spanish to refer to lean times, I think it's a biblical reference.

[anna@mathstodon.xyz]

@amenonsen That's one of the things I remember from reading Hoe Ik Talent Voor Het Leven Kreeg ("How I got a talent for life"), by Rodaan Al Galidi. If I remember correctly, the main character only knows one thing about the Netherlands before arriving there as a refugee: that Dutch cows are the ones that produce the most milk. For some reason that little thing really stuck with me.

Hoe ik talent voor het leven kreeg

Read 257 reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. Semmier Kariem vlucht uit Irak. Zeven jaar van honger, verdwalen en angst later landt hij …

Goodreads (www.goodreads.com)

The English translation of the book is published as "Two Blankets, Three Sheets": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45484709-two-blankets-three-sheets

@sundogplanets

#Reading #Bookstodon #Cows

[petprez@mastodon.world]

@sundogplanets

[mikehaber@social.coop]

@sundogplanets I can’t think of anything on the hoof.

[lawyersgunsnmoney@mstdn.social]

@sundogplanets “Raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock” Sorry, that’s my favorite

[roquette@neopaquita.es]

@sundogplanets

In Asturies (Spain) we say "God and cow dung do a lot, but cow dung do more"

(Dios ya'l cuchu faen munchu, pero fai más el cuchu)

So, it's better working hard than wishing or praying for something.

[michcampbell@fediscience.org]

@sundogplanets "all hat, no cattle" - someone who looks the part but has no clue.

[michcampbell@fediscience.org]

@sundogplanets "as useful as tits on a bull" - self explanatory!

[pyrrhlin@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets While on road trips with the kids, I have (too many times) dad-joked when I see some cows “outstanding in their field”

[dacmot@sunny.garden]

@RLRVivaldi to me a "vache à lait" is a strong dependable money maker. Funny enough, I think the equivalent English idiom is "cash cow."

@sundogplanets

[violanders@mastodon.nu]

@sundogplanets In Swedish there is a saying, "Man saknar inte kon förrän båset är tomt" ("One doesn't miss the cow until the stall is empty"), i.e. you don't know what you have until it's gone. Several of the Norwegian and Danish examples in this thread also exist in Swedish.

[mighty_orbot@retro.pizza]

@sundogplanets A city slicker wanting to pass themselves off as a rough, tough cowboy might wear the hat, but lay themselves open to the taunt ‘all hat, no cattle’. https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/all-hat-and-no-cattle.html

[rlrvivaldi@social.vivaldi.net]

@dacmot @sundogplanets both work but one is a little darker.

[dacmot@sunny.garden]

@sundogplanets I saw the same French one several times, but didn't notice this one (apologies if I missed it... It's a long thread!)

"Il vente à écorner les bœufs", which more or less translates to "it's so windy the bull's horns will fly/rip off". Could be a Québec or Acadian regional saying.

[dwampre_scorrigank@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets from the Bible (not sure which version):

"Ask, and you shall receive,
Seek, and you shall find,
Moo, and you shall get grass."

[gmsizemore@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets I already told you!

And I don't chew my cud twice!

[dasgrueneblatt@wien.rocks]

@sundogplanets

German: Schauen wie eine Kuh vorm Scheunentor

To have an expression like a cow in front of the barn door

Meaning confused, not understanding the situation, not knowing what to do