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What is your country's "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear"? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] HauntingScience 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

“You can’t expect pears out of an elm tree” or “No le pidas peras al olmo”

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

German for "like father, like son" is "the apple doesn't fall far off the tree trunk". But many people nowadays use "the apple doesn't fall far off the pear tree", which is a variant that I think originally was supposed to suggest illegitimate fatherhood.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That’s interesting, because “the apple doesn’t/didn’t fall far from the tree” is a known Anglophonic saying that basically means that a child turned out a lot like a parent (gender not necessarily specified). I wonder if one is a calque of the other.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

The above poster isnt really correct. We have an actual saying that is the literal translation: "Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm ". And it means exactly what you suggest, a child being very much like one of their parents in one way or another.

Like father, like son exists as well, "Wie der Vater so der Sohn".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Lmao your username 😭

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

You're right, I forgot about the fact that there's a literal translation. But besides being gender-neutral, both sayings mean the same, no?

My main point was that many Germans now regularly use the pear-tree malapropism, however.